THE    CENTURY   BIBLE    HANDBOOKS 

Life  and  Teaching  of  Paul 

ALFRED  E.  GARVIE,  M.A.,  D.D. 


Cibrarjp  of  trhe  trheolo^ical  ^tmimvy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


'd^t' 


PRESENTED  BY 


The  Estate  of 
Philip  H,  Waddell  Smith 
BS  2505  7G36  1910 
Garvie,  Alfred  Ernest,  1861 

1945. 
Life  and  teaching  of  Paul 


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LIFE  AND  TEACHING   OF  PAUL 


TO 

REV.  P.  T.  FORSYTH,  M.A.,  D.D. 

PRINCIPAL   OF   HACKNEY   COLLEGE 

AS   A   SMALL   TOKEN   OF 

GRATITUDE,    AFFECTION,    AND    ESTEEM 

AS   A    FRIEND   AND    FELLOW-WORKER 

IN   THE   TRAINING   OF 

THE   MINISTRY  OF  THE  GOSPEL 


LIFE  AND  TEACHING 
OF  PAUL 


BY 


REV.  ALFRED  E.  GARVIE,  M.A.,  D.D. 

PRINCIPAL  OF   NEW   COLLEGE,    LONDON 
EDITOR   OF    "ROMANS"   IN    "  THE   CENTURY   BIBLE " 

AUTHOR  OF    "the  RITSCHLIAN   THEOLOGY,"   "A  GUIDE  TO   PREACHERS, 
"the  INNBR  life  OF  JESUS,"  ETC. 


HODDER  AND  STOUGHTON 

NEW   YORK 

1910 


5^ 


ASIA  MINOR  Sc  GREECE 

SHOWING    THE  JOURNEYS   OF  ST  PAUL 

£r^glis/t  Miles 


E     ,A       T  SEA 

(^iSDJ  rEIiRASEAX     S  EJ) 


lianiioJomeF.E-iJin' 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.  PAUL   THE    SCRIBE 

IL  PAUL    THE    BELIEVER       . 

III.  PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY. 

IV.  PAUL    THE    BUILDER 
V.  PAUL    THE    THEOLOGIAN 

(1)  THE    NEED    OF    SALVATION 

(2)  THE    NATURE    OF    SALVATION 

(3)  THE    WORK    OF    SALVATION 

(4)  THE    CLAIM    OF    SALVATION 
VI.    PAUL    THE    MORALIST 

VII.    PAUL    THE    MARTYR 


APPENDIX- 
LOGY 
INDEX   . 


-LITERARY   SOURCES   AND    CHRONO 


23 
40 
69 
89 
90 
100 
123 

166 


179 
182 


NOTE 


Owing  to  the  limitations  of  space,  it  has  been  necessary  to  omit 
much  that  would  otherwise  have  had  a  place  in  this  volume.  Two 
important  questions,  the  literary  sources  and  the  chronology,  have 
been  briefly  dealt  with  in  the  Appendix.  The  account  of  the 
missionary  journeys  in  Acts  is  so  familiar  that  the  writer,  instead 
of  retelling  the  story,  has  confined  himself  to  treating  questions  of 
special  interest  or  importance.  His  aim  has  been  mainly  so  to 
present  the  teaching  of  Paul  as  to  bring  out  clearly  its  distinctive 
features,  and  to  commend  its  essential  content,  with  the  necessary 
modifications  of  statement,  to  Christian  thought  to-day.  In  so 
doing  he  is  but  discharging  a  little  of  the  great  debt  he  himself 
owes  to  Paul  in  Christian  living  as  well  as  thinking. 


LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

CHAPTER   I 

PAUL  THE  SCRIBE 

(i)  Birth  and  Training  as  a  Scribe. — According  to 
Paul's  own  testimony,  he  was  born  in  Tarsus  of  Cilicia 
(Acts  xxi.  39,  xxii.  3),  inheriting  the  Roman  citizenship 
(xvi.  37,  xxii.  28,  XXV.  12);  but  he  was  a  thorough  Jew, 
speaking  Aramaic,  sprung  from  a  Pharisaic  stock  (Phil, 
iii.  5;  II.  Cor.  xi.  22;  II.  Tim.  i.  3;  Acts  xxiii.  6). 
At  an  early  age  he  was  sent  up  to  Jerusalem  to  be 
trained  as  a  Rabbi  "at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel"  (xxii.  3, 
xxvi.  5) ;  but  before  leaving  Tarsus,  in  accordance  with 
Jewish  custom  he  learned  a  trade,  making  tents  out 
of  the  rough  goat's-hair  cloth  for  which  the  district  was 
famed  (xviii.  3).  At  the  time  of  his  arrest  he  had  a 
sister's  son  living  in  Jerusalem  (xxiii.  16).  Jerome 
repeats   a   tradition   that  he   belonged  to  Gischala  in 


2       LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

Galilee,  "from  which,  when  captured  by  the  Romans, 
he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Tarsus  in  Cilicia." 
Thus  a  Jew  in  race  and  religion,  he  not  only  spent 
his  early  years  in  a  Gentile  environment,  but  was 
by  his  Roman  citizenship  put  in  wider  relations 
endowed  with  a  larger  outlook.  Tarsus  was  not  only 
famed  for  commerce,  but  also  for  its  university,  which 
ranked  with  Athens  and  Alexandria.  The  Stoic  philo- 
sophy and  Roman  law  were  here  taught.  By  this 
environment  the  boy  Paul  cannot  but  have  been 
influenced,  although  there  is  no  proof  that  he  had 
any  extensive  or  exact  Greek  culture.  His  knowledge 
of  Greek  literature  or  philosophy  is  such  as  any  Jew, 
living  among  Greeks,  might  pick  up ;  and  there  was 
much  in  Greek  culture  for  which  he  felt  only  contempt 
(I.  Cor.  i.  20 ;  Col.  ii.  8).  The  easy  use  of  the  Greek 
language  which  he  gained  was  a  great  help  in  his  work 
afterwards.  To  his  Roman  citizenship  he  probably 
owed  such  familiarity  with  Roman  law  as  he  shows,  his 
recognition  of  the  providential  function  of  the  Roman 
Empire  in  protecting  the  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and 
his  aspiration  to  secure  the  whole  Empire  for  Christ. 
But  although  these  influences  can  be  traced  in  the 
Christian   apostle,  they   seem   for   a   time   at   least  to 


PAUL    THE    SCRIBE 


have  been  entirely  suppressed  in  the  Jewish  scribe. 
The  double  aspect  of  his  personality  is  indicated  in 
his  names — Saul^  given  to  him  probably  because  the 
first  king  of  Israel  belonged  to  his  tribe;  and  Paul^ 
possibly  suggested  by  his  small  stature.  Both  names 
were  his  from  childhood;  and  the  second  was  not 
adopted  as  a  compliment  to  the  proconsul  Sergius 
Paulus  (Acts  xiii.  7),  although,  when  he  became  leader 
of  the  mission  to  the  Gentiles,  it  came  to  be  almost 
exclusively  used. 

His  education  in  Jerusalem  probably  began  when  he 
was  twelve  or  thirteen — the  beginning  of  manhood, 
according  to  Jewish  opinion.  His  teacher  Gamaliel 
was  "  called  by  his  contemporaries  the  Beauty  of  the 
Law,  and  is  still  remembered  among  the  Jews  as 
the  great  Rabbi."  He  was  no  enemy  of  Greek  culture, 
although  devoted  to  the  traditions  of  the  Fathers ;  and 
for  a  time  the  pupil  was  less  tolerant  than  his  teacher. 
The  training  consisted  entirely  of  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  with  the  interpretations  given  by  previous 
teachers.  There  was  free  questioning  and  keen  dis- 
cussion, so  that  the  scholars  had  their  wits  sharpened 
and  their  powers  of  speech  developed.  Paul's  letters 
abound  in  proofs  of  how  much  he  owed  to  this  training. 


4       LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

His  studies  influenced  his  religious  disposition  and 
moral  character.  He  was  "zealous  for  God,"  and 
"as  touching  the  righteousness  which  is  in  the  law 
found  blameless"  (Phil.  iii.  6).  For  a  time,  doubtless, 
he  shared  the  satisfaction  with  himself  as  a  doer  of  the 
law,  and  the  contempt  for  those  not  so  devoted  to  God 
and  the  law,  that  characterised  Pharisaism.  He  had 
"  confidence  in  the  flesh."  These  things  were  gain  to 
him,  although  he  afterwards  learned  to  count  them  as 
loss  (vers.  4  and  7). 

(2)  His  Failure  as  a  Pharisee. — If  he  was  a  thorough 
Pharisee,  well  pleased  with  himself,  his  peace  did  not 
last  long.  His  treatment  of  the  law  in  Galatians  and 
Romans  shows  how  much  of  a  burden  and  a  bondage  it 
became  to  him.  The  superficial  Pharisee  was  not  con- 
scious of  his  failure  to  fulfil  all  the  demands  of  the  law  ; 
the  hypocritical  Pharisee  only  made  the  pretence  of 
keeping  its  commands  ;  but  the  conscientious  Pharisee 
soon  discovered  that  a  task  was  laid  upon  him  beyond 
his  strength.  Paul  was  sincere,  and  therefore  miserable 
under  the  law.  Assuming  that  the  passage  in  Rom.  vii. 
7-25  is  autobiographical,  it  records  for  us  a  moral  crisis 
in  his  life.  His  conscience  discovered  that  the  law  for- 
bade evil  desire  as  well  as  wrong  action ;  and  in  respect 


PAUL    THE    SCRIBE  5 

to  coveting  or  lust  he  could  not  find  himself  blameless. 
Without  committing  ourselves  to  Dr.  Bruce's  suggestion 
that  he  was  tempted  by  sensual  desire,  although  a  good 
deal  can  be  said  for  it,  we  are  warranted  in  concluding 
that  Paul  found  in  himself  wishes  which  he  knew  to  be 
wrong,  yet  could  not  suppress.  He  vainly  struggled 
until  he  felt  helpless  and  hopeless  (ver.  24). 

Possibly  his  misery  drove  him  to  undertake  a  task 
which  to  his  disposition,  as  the  letters  reveal  it,  must 
have  been  uncongenial — the  extinction  of  the  Christian 
community.  He  mentions  his  persecuting  the  Church  as 
an  instance  of  his  zeal  (Phil.  iii.  6).  Probably  he  believed 
that  he  could  make  up  for  his  failure  to  keep  the  law  in 
one  respect  by  showing  his  zeal  for  it  in  persecuting  those 
who  seemed  to  be  making  it  null  and  void  by  declaring 
as  Messiah  one  who  had  died  the  death  which  the  law 
pronounced  accursed  (Gal.  iii.  13).  Possibly,  too,  he  was 
angry  at  the  Christians  because,  if  this  assertion  were 
true,  he  had  lost  even  the  hope  of  relief  from  his  misery 
which  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  held  out  to  him. 
When  Stephen's  boldness  in  preaching  Jesus  as  the 
Christ  had  excited  the  anger  of  the  multitude  in  Jeru- 
salem, Paul  came  to  the  front.  Though  he  did  not 
cast  a  stone  at  the  first  martyr,  he  approved  the  deed 


6       LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

(vii.  58).  The  spirit  in  which  Stephen  met  death,  with 
trust  in  God  and  forgiveness  for  man,  did  not  at  once 
arrest  his  fury  ;  but  who  can  doubt  that  he  already  felt 
the  goad  against  which  he  kept  vainly  kicking?  He 
describes  his  own  career  as  persecutor  in  Acts  xxvi. 
9-1 1.  What  might  have  been  a  brief  outbreak  of  mob- 
violence,  he  seems  to  have  turned  into  a  systematic  and 
extending  persecution.  As  the  words,  "  I  gave  my  vote 
against  them,"  indicate,  his  reputation  as  a  scribe  had 
already  won  him  a  place  in  the  Sanhedrin,  or  this 
honour  was  one  of  the  rewards  of  his  persecuting  zeal. 
If  he  had  any  doubts  or  scruples  in  regard  to  his  course 
of  action,  he  crushed  them.  But  he  did  not  thus  find 
the  deliverance  from  a  torturing  conscience  which  he 
sought. 

Afterwards  looking  back  on  his  action,  though  he 
bitterly  regretted  it  and  severely  judged  it,  yet  he  recog- 
nised that  it  had  not  been  in  defiance  of  his  conscience 
(I.  Tim.  i.  13).  His  Pharisaism  could  not  secure  moral 
victory,  but  it  could  stimulate  persecuting  zeal.  It  was 
a  preparation  for  his  conversion,  in  so  far  as  it  taught 
him  that  righteousness  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  by  works 
of  the  law.  Before  passing  to  his  Christian  experience, 
let  us  gather  up  the  beliefs  which  he  carried  with  him. 


PAUL   THE    SCRIBE 


(3)  His  Beliefs  as  a  Scribe  of  the  Pharisees. — (i.) 
Josephus  tells  us  that  the  three  sects  of  Judaism  were 
divided  on  the  question  of  divine  providence  and  hu??ian 
freedom.  The  Pharisees  affirmed  both ;  the  Sadducees 
denied  the  former,  and  the  Essenes  the  latter.  In  his 
argument  in  regard  to  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  and 
acceptance  of  the  Gentiles  by  God  in  Rom.  ix.-xi.,  Paul 
maintains  the  freedom,  unbelief,  and  guilt  of  man,  but 
also  asserts  an  absolute  divine  providence.  God  can  do 
as  He  will ;  men  in  His  hands  are  as  clay  in  the  hands 
of  the  potter.  While  his  conclusion  that  "God  hath 
shut  up  all  unto  disobedience,  that  he  might  have  mercy 
upon  all "  (xi.  32)  is  inspired  by  his  Christian  faith,  yet 
it  is  not  the  distinctively  Christian  conception  of  God 
that  dominates  the  earlier  stage  of  his  argument,  in 
which  he  asserts  an  unconditional  divine  election. 

Again,  one  cannot  but  recognise  that  his  representation 
of  '•'the  righteousness  of  God"  in  Rom.  i.-iii.  has  been 
affected  by  the  Pharisaic  conception  of  God  as  Ruler, 
Lawgiver,  Judge.  One  may  admit  that  the  conception 
of  a  moral  order  in  the  world,  which  must  be  main- 
tained so  that  God's  moral  character  may  not  be 
obscured  or  man's  moral  conscience  be  confused,  is 
not  mere.y  Pharisaic,  but  universally  and  permanently 


8       LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

valid ;  and  that  in  the  death  of  Christ  there  is  such 
a  manifestation  of  holy  love  in  self-sacrifice  as  asserts 
that  order,  vindicates  that  character,  and  satisfies 
that  conscience ;  and  yet  one  may  be  forced  to  main- 
tain that  it  was  not  only  because  Paul  was  meeting 
the  Judaisers  on  their  own  ground,  but  also  because 
he  himself  had  been  a  Pharisee,  that  the  argument 
assumes  the  forensic  character,  which  has  been  an 
offence  to  so  many  believers. 

That  God  was  conceived  by  Paul  as  personal,  and 
even  that  much  of  his  language  is  anthropomorphic, 
can  hardly  be  set  down  to  his  Pharisaism,  as  it  is 
the  impulse  of  religion  to  think  of  God  as  personal 
and  as  akin  to  man.  It  is  doubtful  whether  we  are 
justified  in  affirming,  as  Weinel  does,  "that  Paul 
seriously  conceives  God  under  the  image  of  a  man 
as  distinct  from  a  woman  "  ("  St.  Paul,  the  Man  and 
his  Work,"  p.  24),  on  the  strength  of  the  distinctly 
artificial  Rabbinical  argument  of  I.  Cor.  xi.  7-9, 
to  prove  the  inferiority  of  woman  as  a  reason  why 
she  should  be  veiled. 

(ii.)  For  his  cos7nology,  the  universe  consists  of  three 
parts — heaven,  earth,  and  the  abode  of  the  dead.  He 
means   to   give  a  complete   account    of    Creation    in 


PAUL   THE   SCRIBE 


the  words  "things  in  heaven  and  things  on  earth 
and  things  under  the  earth"  (Phil.  ii.  lo).  Christ 
at  death  "descended  into  the  lower  parts  of  the 
earth " :  in  rising  again  He  "  ascended  far  above 
all  the  heavens"  (Eph.  iv.  9).  From  heaven  He 
will  appear  at  His  Second  Coming  (I.  Thess.  i.  10). 
The  saints  already  have  their  glorified  bodies  in  heaven 
(II.  Cor.  V.  i).  In  a  trance  Paul  believed  himself  to 
have  been  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven,  even  into 
Paradise  (II.  Cor.  xii.  2-4).  This  heavenly  world,  as 
eternal,  is  the  object  of  desire  of  those  who  groan  undei 
the  bondage  of  corruption  in  this  earthly  life  (II.  Cor. 
iv.  18;  Rom.  viii.  21-22).  All  this  does  not  belong 
to  the  Christian  revelation  in  Paul,  but  to  his  Pharisaic 
inheritance.  Probably  Weinel  forces  a  meaning  un- 
intended by  Paul  on  the  description  of  the  bodies 
celestial  and  terrestial  in  I.  Cor.  xv.  40,  when  he 
represents  him  as  anticipating  for  the  risen  in  Christ 
a  home  in  the  stars. 

(iii.)  A  marked  distinction  between  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees  is  expressed  in  Acts  xxiii.  8  :  "  The  Sadducees 
say  that  there  is  no  resurrection,  neither  angel,  nor 
spirit ;  but  the  Pharisees  confess  both."  Paul,  even 
as  a  Christian,  felt  himself  to  be  in  closer  agreement 


lo     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

with  the  Pharisees  than  the  Sadducees.  While  the 
manner  of  Christ's  death  made  it  for  a  time  impossible 
for  him  to  believe  in  His  resurrection  as  the  proof 
of  His  Messiahship,  the  possibility  of  a  resurrection 
was  not  doubted  by  him.  If  the  story  of  the  woman 
who  had  seven  husbands,  brought  by  the  Sadducees 
as  an  objection  to  the  belief  in  the  Resurrection,  is 
a  specimen  of  the  kind  of  argument  they  were  wont 
to  appeal  to  in  their  controversies  on  this  question 
with  the  Pharisees  (Matt.  xxii.  23),  the  current  belief 
must  have  been  that  there  would  be  a  literal  repro- 
duction of  earthly  conditions ;  and  this  other  evidence 
proves  it  to  have  been.  Whether  Paul  after  his  con- 
version became  familiar  with  Christ's  rebuke  of  this 
gross  conception  or  not,  yet  he  did  not  continue 
to  hold  the  belief  in  this  form;  it  was  one  of  the 
things  which  became  new  in  Christ.  "Flesh  and 
blood  cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God;  neither 
doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption  "  (I.  Cor.  xv.  50). 

(iv.)  The  belief  in  angels  and  spirits^  on  the  other 
hand,  he  took  over  with  little  modification.  The 
Christian  faith  assured  him  of  Christ's  victory  over 
all  hostile  spiritual  powers,  and  of  the  security  that 
He   offers   to    all    believers.      God    raised    Christ    far 


PAUL    THE    SCRIBE  ii 

above  all  these  (Eph.  i.  21);  and  His  crucifixion  was 
a  victory  gained  over  them  (Col.  ii.  15).  The  hostility 
of  evil  spirits  was  to  Paul  a  present  reality,  even  when 
he  was  assured  of  their  defeat  by  Christ.  He  expands 
the  phrase  "  the  wiles  of  the  devil "  in  the  statement : 
"Our  wrestling  is  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but 
against  the  principalities,  against  the  powers,  against 
the  world-rulers  of  this  darkness,  against  the  spiritual 
hosts  of  wickedness  in  the  heavenly  places  "  (Eph.  vi. 
12).  It  was  not  only  in  the  Epistles  {Colossia?is  and 
Ephesians),  concerned  with  an  incipient  Greek  heresy, 
that  Paul  dealt  with  this  belief.  He  expresses  his 
certainty  of  the  Christian  salvation  in  a  challenge 
to  these  powers  (Rom.  viii.  39).  For  us  to-day  such 
language  appears  poetical,  and  we  treat  it  as  figurative 
speech;  but  Paul  was  expressing  a  distinct  and  con- 
fident behef. 

As  is  well  known,  the  Old  Testament  has  only  the 
beginnings  of  a  doctrine  of  Satan,  and  angels  good  or 
bad.  The  belief  in  a  kingdom  of  angels  of  light  under 
God,  and  a  kingdom  of  angels  of  darkness  under  Satan, 
was  borrowed  by  Judaism  from  the  Persian  refigion. 
While  the  Sadducees  rejected  the  doctrine  as  an  innova- 
tion, the  Pharisees  fully  accepted  it.    It  is  prominent  in  the 


12     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

Apocryphal  books,  and  still  morethe  Apocalyptic  literature. 
For  Paul,  Satan  is  "the  god  of  this  world  (or  age)  who 
hath  blinded  the  minds  of  the  unbelieving,  that  the  light 
of  the  Gospel  of  the  glory  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image 
of  God,  should  not  dawn  upon  them  "  (II.  Cor.  iv.  4). 
"  The  rulers  of  this  world  (or  age)  which  are  coming  to 
nought "  (I.  Cor.  ii.  6)  are  evil  spirits,  whose  complete 
subjection  is  the  triumph  of  God's  kingdom  on  earth 
(I.  Cor.  XV.  24).  For  Paul  these  are  not  abstract  terms, 
as  for  us,  but  the  titles  of  orders  of  spiritual  beings. 
When  Christ  came  to  earth.  He  was  not  recognised  by 
the  rulers  of  this  age  ;  had  He  been,  even  they  would  have 
shrunk  from  the  guilt  of  His  death  (I.  Cor.  ii.  8).  Not 
as  "  manifested  in  the  flesh,"  but  as  "  justified  in  the 
spirit" — that  is,  only  after  His  Resurrection  was  He  "seen 
of  angels"  (I.  Tim.  iii.  16). 

In  Paul's  experience  Satan  was  very  real.  Whether  he 
thought  of  him  as  black  or  not,  at  least  he  held  that  to 
effect  his  purposes  he  must  sometimes  transform  himself 
(II.  Cor.  xi.  14).  He  is  the  tempter  (I.  Thess.  iii.  5), 
who  may  allure  from  the  Christian  faith.  Undue  severity 
to  a  Christian  brother  would  be  giving  Satan  an  advan- 
tage, would  show  ignorance  of  his  wiles  (II.  Cor.  ii.  11). 
Sensual  desire  may  be  one  of  the  means  used  by  him 


PAUL   THE   SCRIBE  13 

(I.  Cor.  vii.  5).  Any  hindrance  to  the  work  of  God,  even 
bodily  infirmity,  is  due  to  him  (I.  Thess.  ii.  18).  Paul's 
own  "  stake  in  the  flesh,"  whatever  it  may  have  been, 
was  "  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet "  him,  and  yet  he 
recognises  that  it  served  a  good  end,  "  that  I  should  not 
be  exalted  overmuch,"  and  that  its  continuance  was  God's 
will  (II.  Cor.  xii.  7-9).  While  showing  his  enlighten- 
ment by  denying  that  "  an  idol  is  anything,"  he  neverthe- 
less regards  heathen  sacrifices  as  offerings  to  demons, 
and  participation  in  the  sacrificial  feast  as  a  communion 
with  demons  just  as  real  as  is  the  communion  with 
Christ  in  the  Lord's  Supper  (I.  Cor.  x.  19-22).  The 
beauty  of  women,  if  unveiled,  may  tempt  angels  present 
at  the  Christian  worship  (I.  Cor.  xi.  10.  No  other  more 
probable  meaning  can  be  found  for  the  obscure  clause 
"  because  of  the  angels  ").  Paul  admits  the  abstract 
possibility  that  "  an  angel  from  heaven  "  might  preach 
another  Gospel  to  the  Galatians,  and  unhesitatingly 
judges  him  "  let  him  be  anathema "  (Gal.  i.  8).  The 
angels  which  fall  into  sin  will  be  judged  by  the  saints 
(I.  Cor.  vi.  3).  The  angels  as  well  as  men  are  spectators 
of  the  sufferings  of  the  apostles  (iv.  9).  While  there  are 
spirits  altogether  evil,  many  of  the  angels  are  neither 
good  nor  bad,  liable  to  present  temptation,  and  subject 


14     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

to  future  judgment.  The  ministry  of  good  angels  is  not 
at  all  prominent  in  Paul's  letters.  Their  agency  in  the 
mediation  of  the  law  is  probably  regarded  by  him  as  an 
evidence  of  its  inferiority  to  the  Gospel,  which  is  directly 
given  by  God  (Gal.  iii.  19).  He  was  far  more  conscious 
of  temptation  by  the  evil  spirits  than  of  the  ministration 
of  the  good.  His  belief  as  a  Pharisee  in  such  hostile 
spiritual  powers  undoubtedly  cast  a  shadow  over  his 
world,  deepened  the  tragedy  of  his  own  moral  struggle  : 
the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  did  not  free  him  from 
the  belief,  but  robbed  it  of  its  terror. 

(v.)  Paul's  doctrine  of  man  is  not  altogether  original, 
but  is  derived  from  the  teaching  of  the  Jewish  schools. 
He  adopts  the  Old  Testament  psychology  :  for  him  man 
is  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  His  doctrine  of  the  flesh 
is  not  derived  fronif  Greek  dualism,  but  is  a  develop- 
ment of  the  Hebrew  conception.  Creaturely  weakness 
through  the  entrance  and  dominion  of  sin  in  man, 
becomes  moral  perversity.  Whether  in  his  view  of  the 
flesh  we  may  further  detect  "  the  personal  equation," 
will  be  afterwards  discussed;  meanwhile  we  note  only 
that  there  is  a  connection  with  the  current  beliefs  of 
Judaism. 

The  existence  in  man  of  a  wicked  or  corrupt  heart,  of 


PAUL   THE   SCRIBE  15 

wickedness  or  corruptness,  is  recognised  in  the  Jewish 
schools,  and  is  traced  back  to  Adam.  This  God  left 
in  men,  even  when  He  gave  them  the  law  (H.  Esdras 
iii.  20-22).  The  multiplication  of  the  one  transgression 
is  very  vividly  pictured,  a  great  harvest  from  a  seed  (iv. 
30).  Death  is  regarded  as  the  result  of  sin  (vii.  48). 
The  absolute  universality  of  sin  is  not  affirmed ;  Phari- 
saism assumed  the  possibility  of  man's  keeping  the  law ; 
but  Paul  had  discovered  for  himself  that  the  law  could 
not  be  kept;  and  therefore,  when  he  reproduces  this 
teaching  in  Rom.  v.  12-21,  he  affirms  confidently 
"death  passed  unto  all  men,  for  that  all  sinned." 

In  the  Old  Testament,  the  story  of  the  Fall  in  Genesis 
iii.  is  nowhere  used  to  explain  the  existence  of  sin  or 
death;  but  in  the  Apocryphal  writings  this  explanation 
is  found.  In  Wisdom  ii.  23-24,  man's  creation  in  God's 
image,  and  man's  fall  into  sin  and  death  "  by  the  envy  of 
the  devil,"  are  asserted.  Woman's  share  in  bringing  about 
the  tragedy  is  clearly  stated  (Ecclesiasticus  xxv.  24). 
Owing  to  his  keener  moral  insight  and  severer  moral 
struggle,  Paul  had  a  sense  of  the  world's  sin  and  misery 
far  greater  than  was  at  all  common  in  Pharisaism,  and 
it  was  this  difference  that  prepared  him  more  readily  to 
welcome  the  Christian  salvation. 


i6     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

(vi.)  As  a  Christian  Paul  was  delivered  from  his  Jewish 
exclusiveness.  He  saw  the  idolatry  and  corruption  of 
the  Gentiles,  and  yet  recognised,  as  a  Pharisee  would 
not  have  done,  that  there  was  "law  written  in  their 
hearts"  (Rom.  ii.  14-16).  The  arrogance  of  the  Jew, 
which  he  describes  and  then  rebukes  inverses  17-24,  he 
probably  had  himself  felt  and  shown,  at  least  as  long  as 
he  was  a  satisfied  Pharisee.  While  he  laid  aside  this 
spirit,  yet  even  at  his  own  conversion  he  did  not 
abandon  his  belief  that  he  belonged  to  a  people  chosen, 
called,  and  fitted  by  God  to  be  the  bearer  of  divine 
revelation.  "They  were  entrusted  with  the  oracles  of 
God"  (Rom.  iii.  2). 

Of  these  oracles  he  held  the  view  current  in  the 
schools  of  the  scribes.  What  is  written  in  the  law  of 
Moses  is  said  by  God  (I.  Cor.  ix.  9,  10).  *'  Every 
scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable  for  teaching, 
for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  which  is  in 
righteousness  "  (II.  Tim.  iii.  16).  Paul's  use  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  support  of  his  arguments  assumes  the 
absolute  authority.  When  he  infers  from  the  command, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the 
corn,"  that  the  apostle  has  a  right  to  support  (I.  Cor.  ix. 
9,  10),  he  offers  us  an  instance  of  the  Rabbinic  Halacha, 


PAUL   THE    SCRIBE  17 

or  interpretation  of  the  law  to  cover  cases  not  expressly 
provided  for.  When  he  expands  the  story  of  the  water 
that  flowed  from  the  rock  in  Horeb  (Ex.  xvii.  6)  in 
the  statement  "for  they  drank  of  a  spiritual  rock  that 
followed  them  "  (x.  4),  he  is  reproducing  the  Haggada^ 
or  elaboration  of  the  history  for  edification.  When  he 
calls  attention  to  the  singular  in  the  promise  to 
Abraham,  "  He  saith  not,  And  to  seeds,  as  of  many, 
but  as  of  one,  And  to  thy  seed,"  and  infers  that  Christ 
is  directly  referred  to  (Gal.  iii.  16),  he  allows  himself 
just  one  of  those  verbal  artificialities  of  interpretation  dear 
to  the  scribes.  An  instance  of  the  allegorical  method, 
so  widely  used  by  Philo  in  order  to  read  Greek  philo- 
sophy into  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  is  found  in  the  same 
epistle,  where  Abraham's  "  two  sons,  one  by  the  handmaid, 
and  one  by  the  freewoman,"  are  treated  as  an  allegory 
of  Judaism  and  Christianity  (iv.  21-31).  The  passage 
in  I.  Cor.  x.  i-ii,  already  referred  to  as  containing  a  bit 
of  Jewish  Haggada,  is  also  an  example  of  the  method  of 
interpretation,  which  is  akin  to  the  allegorical,  but  claims 
even  more  confidently  to  understand  the  divine  inten- 
tion in  events.  Of  the  varied  experiences  of  Israel  in 
the  wilderness  Paul  affirms :  "  In  these  things  they 
became  figures  of  us  "  (x.  6).     "  These  things  happened 


i8     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

to  them  by  way  of  figure  "  (v.  1 1 ).  The  typology  which 
was  once  so  common  in  the  Christian  Church,  but  which 
modern  scholarship  has  quite  discredited,  was  for  Paul 
a  valid  method.  No  distinction  was  made  between  the 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament  which  were  expressly  pre- 
dictive and  those  where  there  was  no  such  intention. 
A  verbal  coincidence,  without  any  regard  to  the  context, 
was  enough  to  suggest  a  prophecy  and  its  fulfilment. 
Hosea's  threat  to  the  northern  kingdom  that  God  would 
in  judgment  disown  it  as  His  people,  and  His  promise  that 
afterwards  in  mercy  He  would  again  call  it  His  people 
(ii.  23),  is  treated  as  a  prediction  of  God's  call  of  the 
Gentiles  into  the  Christian  Church  (Rom.  ix.  25).  The 
words  in  Malachi,  "  I  loved  Jacob,  but  Esau  I  hated  " 
(i.  2,  3),  which  describe  the  lot  of  two  peoples,  are 
quoted  as  a  proof  of  God's  unconditional  election  of 
the  one  son,  and  as  unconditional  rejection  of  the  other 
son  of  Rebecca  even  before  birth  (Rom.  ix.  13).  It 
is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  Paul's  use  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  Rabbinic  way  is  almost  entirely 
confined  to  his  controversy  with  the  Judaisers ;  in  the 
exposition  of  his  Christian  faith  he  does  not  need  to  build 
on  such  unsubstantial  foundations.  It  must  be  added 
also  that  his  spiritual  discernment  does   restrain   him 


PAUL   THE    SCRIBE  19 

from  the  trivialities  and  extravagances,  in  which  some 
scribes  indulged. 

(viii.)  In  the  Scriptures,  which  he  so  regarded  as 
"the  oracles  of  God,"  Paul  as  a  Pharisee  most  highly 
prized  the  law.  Even  when  he  had  learned  that  Christ 
was  the  end  of  the  law,  he  described  it  as  "  holy,  righ- 
teous, and  good,"  as  "spiritual"  (Rom.  vii.  12,  14). 
After  proving  his  thesis  that  justification  is  by  faith  for 
Jew  and  Gentile  alike,  he  vehemently  repudiates  the 
suggestion  that  he  is  making  "the  law  of  none  effect 
through  faith,"  with  the  affirmation,  "  God  forbid  ;  nay, 
we  establish  the  law  "  (Rom.  iii.  31).  At  one  time  he 
did  believe  that  the  demands  of  the  law  could  be  kept, 
and  that  "  he  that  doeth  them  shall  live  in  them '' 
(Gal.  iii.  12).  Only  afterwards  did  he  discover  the  curse 
of  the  law. 

Even  before  this  discovery,  however,  he  probably 
delighted  in  the  promises  of  God.  Messianic  prophecy 
was  cultivated  in  the  schools  of  the  scribes.  The 
Apocalyptic  literature  shows  how  eagerly  the  eyes 
of  the  pious  were  turned  towards  the  future,  how 
fervent  were  the  hopes  of  God's  deliverance  of  His 
people,  and  His  judgment  of  their  enemies.  As  a 
Christian  Paul  believed  that  the   Messiah   had   come, 


20     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

but  much  that  he  had  expected  as  a  Pharisee  in 
Messiah's  first  coming  he  now  anticipated  in  regard 
to  Christ's  Second  Advent.  Not  a  little  in  Paul's 
Christology  and  eschatology  can  be  paralleled  in  the 
Messianic  prophecy  current  in  Judaism.  In  the  Psalms 
of  Solomon  (belonging  to  the  time  when  Pompey  entered 
Jerusalem,  63  B.C.),  especially  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  Psalms,  we  get  a  clear  and  full  picture  of 
what  the  Pharisees  expected  that  the  Messiah  would 
be  and  do.  This  Pharisaic  hope  was  exclusively 
national  and  distinctively  legalistic.  Paul's  Christian 
faith  did  make  the  Messianic  hope  new  in  its  evan- 
gelical and  universalist  character,  but  some  of  the 
older  elements  were  retained.  Judaism  interpreted 
the  second  Psalm  in  a  Messianic  sense,  and  so  was 
prepared  to  call  the  Messiah  Son  of  God.  In  one 
of  the  Apocalypses  the  Messiah  appears  as  the  Son 
of  Man,  and  is  endowed  with  transcendent  attributes. 
The  pre-existence  of  the  Messiah  in  heaven  with  God, 
waiting  at  the  appointed  time  to  be  sent  forth,  was 
also  taught  in  some  Jewish  circles  (compare  I.  Cor. 
i.  7,  XV.  45-49 ;  Gal.  iv.  4 ;  Rom.  viii.  3).  If  we 
are  to  press  the  literal  sense  of  the  words  in  I.  Cor. 
X.  4,  "the  rock  was  Christ,"  then   Paul  would   seem 


PAUL   THE    SCRIBE 


to  have  shared  the  belief,  current  in  his  own  time,  that 
the  pre-existent  Messiah  had  manifested  Himself  in 
various  forms  in  the  history  of  Israel.  Paul's  views 
of  the  Resurrection,  the  judgment  of  the  world, 
and  the  triumph  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  although 
connected  with  the  Second  Coming  of  Christ,  were 
cast  in  the  mould  of  the  Jewish  expectations  of  the 
Messiah's  coming. 

The  frank  and  full  recognition  of  the  debt  Paul 
the  Christian  theologian  owed  to  the  Rabbinic  school 
in  which  he  was  trained  does  not  depreciate  his  origin- 
ality or  authority  ;  for  we  are  coming  to  recognise  more 
and  more  that  even  the  great  man  owes  much  to  his 
heredity  and  environment.  Paul  had  a  Gospel,  which 
he  did  not  learn  from  men,  but  which  was  revealed  to 
him  by  God  through  His  spirit;  and  we  shall  be 
able  to  apprehend  that  Gospel  more  clearly,  and  con- 
sequently appreciate  it  more  highly,  if  we  can  dis- 
tinguish from  its  essential  and  distinctive  features 
whatever  did  not  belong  to  it.  Whatever  opinions 
and  beliefs  Paul  carried  over  from  his  Pharisaism, 
it  could  not  meet  his  spirit's  deepest  needs ;  it  could 
only  disclose  to  him  his  moral  impotence ;  it  drove 
him,  distressed  in   soul,  in   a  frenzy   of  ignorant  un- 


22     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

belief  for  a  time  to  reject  as  blasphemy  the  revelation 
of  God  for  which  his  heart  and  flesh  were  crying  out, 
and  to  persecute,  even  unto  death,  those  who,  having 
for  themselves  received  the  divine  salvation,  desired 
to  impart  it  to  others.  "The  commandment  which 
was  unto  life  he  found  to  be  unto  death,"  until  the 
life  of  God  in  the  Risen  Christ  was  revealed  to  him 
on  the  way  to  Damascus. 


CHAPTER   II 

PAUL  THE   BELIEVER 

(i)  Paul's   Preparation. — Although  the   conversion    of 

Paul  is  usually  regarded  as  sudden,  yet  the  study  of 

the    rehgious    consciousness    to-day    by   the    methods 

of  scientific   psychology   leads   us    to    look   for   some 

previous  preparation;   and   such   is    suggested    by   the 

words  "it  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  goad" 

(Acts   xxvi.   14).     He  realised  his  moral  impotence  to 

keep  the   law.     He  desired  by  his  zeal  in  persecuting 

the  Christians  to  make  up  for  this  failure.     He  hoped 

that    Messiah's    coming    might    bring   him    deliverance 

from  sin  and  relief  of  his  misery.     He  was  maddened 

by  the  confession  of  the  Christians   that   the  Messiah 

had  come,   but  had  been  rejected,  and  had  died  the 

shameful  and  accursed  death  of  the  Cross.     He  could 

not  bring  himself  to  believe  that  their  testimony  that 

this  crucified   Messiah  was  risen   from   the   dead   was 

23 


24     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

true,  and  so  he  set  himself  to  stamp  out  this  blasphemy. 
Did  the  bearing  of  the  persecuted  ever  make  him 
doubt  whether  he  was  assuredly  right  and  doing  God's 
will  ?  Did  he  ask  himself  whether,  after  all,  their  witness 
might  not  be  true  ?  If  so,  he  crushed  all  his  scruples 
and  fears  and  pressed  on  in  the  path  he  had  chosen. 
While,  on  the  one  hand,  all  the  evidence  we  have  is 
opposed  to  the  common  assumption  that  Paul  was 
in  such  a  condition  of  soul  that  a  subjective  illusion 
of  Christ's  presence  and  voice  was  enough  to  bring 
about  a  thorough  change  from  unbelief  to  faith,  yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  indications  that,  without 
some  such  inward  process  as  has  been  just  suggested, 
he  could  not  have  accepted  even  an  objective  mani- 
festation of  Christ  as  a  convincing  proof  that  He  was 
risen,  and  that  therefore,  though  He  had  been  cruci- 
fied, He  was  indeed  the  Messiah.  Such  an  external 
compulsion  of  faith  would  not  be  at  all  in  accord 
with  the  character  of  the  Christian  revelation. 

(2)  The  Records  of  the  Conversion  in  Acts. — There 
are  three  records  of  the  conversion  in  the  Acts  (ix.  1-19, 
xxii.  6-16,  xxvi.  12-18).  The  call  to  apostleship 
among  the  Gentiles  is  not  mentioned  in  the  first 
account,  although  it  is  revealed  to   Ananias    (ix.   15). 


PAUL   THE    BELIEVER  25 

In  the  second  account  the  call  is  mentioned  only  in 
connection  with  a  subsequent  vision  during  prayer 
in  the  temple  (xxii.  21).  In  the  third  account  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  part  played  by  Ananias, 
and  the  call  is  immediately  connected  with  his  con- 
version (xxvi.  16-18).  The  probability  is  that  in  the 
third  account  a  much  condensed  summary  is  before 
us,  and  so  the  call  appears  antedated.  It  is  likely 
that  Paul  only  gradually,  as  he  meditated  on  God's 
dealings  with  him  and  came  to  understand  the  Gospel 
entrusted  to  him,  realised  the  task  which  God  had 
assigned  to  him.  As  we  study  his  work  as  a  missionary 
we  shall  see  that  he  was  divinely  guided  step  by  step. 
In  Isaiah's  call  (chapter  vi.)  we  seem  to  have  a  similar 
fusing  of  distinct  experiences  into  one. 

The  accounts  do  not  strictly  agree,  although  they 
do  not  necessarily  contradict  one  another,  as  regards 
what  Paul's  companions  saw  or  heard.  Probably  they 
did  see  a  bright  light,  but  not  the  form  of  Christ,  as 
Paul  saw;  did  hear  a  sound,  but  not  the  voice,  and 
the  words  uttered,  as  he  heard.  In  all  the  accounts 
the  first  words  Paul  heard  were.  "Saul,  Saul,  why 
persecutest  thou  me?"  In  the  third  is  added  the 
reproach,  "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  goad  " 


26     LIFE    AND    TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

(xxvi.  14).  In  all  the  accounts  his  question,  "Who 
art  thou,  Lord  ? "  secures  the  same  answer,  "  I  am 
Jesus  whom  thou  persecutest."  In  xxii.  8  "of 
Nazareth"  is  added  to  "Jesus."  Beyond  this  the 
close  correspondence  ceases.  In  the  second  account 
alone  Paul  asks  the  question,  "What  shall  I  do. 
Lord?"  (xxii.  10),  surely  a  characteristic  utterance, 
indicating  his  submission.  In  the  first  and  second 
accounts  he  is  bidden  go  to  Damascus,  and  there 
wait  the  further  divine  guidance.  He  spends  three 
days  without  sight,  neither  eating  nor  drinking  (ix.  9). 
Then  Ananias  is  sent  to  him  to  lay  his  hands  upon 
him,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  come  upon  him,  and 
that  his  sight  may  be  restored.  Ananias'  remonstrance 
that  he  has  come  to  Damascus  as  a  persecutor  is  met 
by  the  assurance  of  his  calling  (as  already  mentioned). 
Filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  restored  to  sight, 
Paul  arises,  is  baptized,  takes  food,  and  is  strengthened. 
(3)  Weiners  Explanation  of  the  Conversion. — Weinel, 
whose  appreciative  study  of  the  Apostle  is  vitiated  by  his 
bias  against  the  supernatural,  considers  that  "  the  story 
in  Acts  of  the  healing  and  directing  of  Paul  by  Ananias 
is  hardly  tenable,  considering  the  apostle's  own  solemn 
assertion  that  *  he  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood ' 


PAUL   THE   BELIEVER  27 

(Gal.  i.  16),"  and  this  suggests  one  way  in  which  the 
account  of  the  temporary  blindness  may  be  got  rid  of. 
As  an  alternative  explanation,  allowing  that  the  blindness 
was  real,  he  states  that  "just  as  hair  may  whiten  in  a 
sudden  fright,  so  the  eye  may  be  disorganised  by  a 
psychical  commotion."  Paul's  statement  in  Galatians 
refers  to  his  relation  to  the  apostles  in  Jerusalem ;  and 
it  is  simply  exegetical  violence  to  use  it  for  the  exclusion 
of  the  ministry  of  Ananias  to  Paul.  The  story  as  it  is 
told  in  Acts  can  be  suspected  only  when  the  miraculous 
is  regarded  as  incredible.  The  alternative  explanation 
of  the  blindness  need  be  considered  only  if  the  whole 
event  can  be  reduced  to  "  a  psychical  commotion."  This 
is,  of  course,  Weinel's  intention.  "We  must  take  the 
inward  experience  of  the  apostle,  the  vision,  to  be  really 
that  which  effected  the  change  in  his  life.  Or  rather  it 
accompanied,  it  did  not  effect  that  change.  Struggles 
which  proceed  in  our  own  souls  much  less  vehemently 
are  condensed  into  visions  in  the  souls  of  prophets.'* 
The  miracle  must  be  excluded.  "  However  we  may 
imagine  the  details  of  the  occurrence  to  ourselves,  we 
shall  always  recognise  in  the  struggle  of  Paul's  soul,  in 
the  mould  of  his  character,  his  encounters  with  the 
Christians,    and   his    personal    fanaticism,    the   moving 


28     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

causes  which  ultimately  transformed  him  in  a  sudden 
change  "  ("  St.  Paul,"  pp.  82-84).  The  one  cause  to 
which  Paul  ascribed  the  change,  the  one  cause  to  which  a 
multitude  of  Christians  have  assigned  a  similar  change 
in  themselves — the  present,  living,  mighty,  gracious 
Saviour  and  Lord  —  is  not  even  mentioned.  The  fine 
words  which  follow  about  our  faith  needing  no  pledge, 
such  as  did  the  faith  of  the  Jews  in  miracle,  are  simply, 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word,  an  impertinence.  The 
Christian  believer  is  here  not  concerned  about  any 
physical  miracle,  any  departure  from  natural  order ;  the 
issue  involved  is  this :  Is  the  object  of  the  Christian 
faith,  Christ  Himself,  a  present  reality,  supersensible, 
yet  so  mighty  and  gracious  that,  if  need  be.  He  can 
even  sensibly  manifest  Himself? 

(4)  Paul's  Account  in  his  Letters. — What  does  Paul  tell 
us  about  the  change  and  how  it  was  wrought  ?  eaxaTov 
Se  TTOLVTiov  ixTTT^pa.  T^  €KTp(0[xarL  c!)cf)Oi]  Ka/xot — "  and 
last  of  all,  as  to  an  abortion,  he  appeared  to  me  also  " 
(I.  Cor.  XV.  8).  The  rendering  of  oionrepel  rw  eKrpcoixaTi 
by  "  as  unto  one  born  out  of  due  time "  is  a  delicacy 
which  is  nothing  else  than  an  infidelity  of  rendering. 
If  Paul  chose  to  describe  his  conversion  as  an  abnormal, 
violent,  and  forced  birth,  why  should  we  shrink  from 


PAUL   THE   BELIEVER  29 

making  his  meaning  plain  ?  As  an  offspring  torn  from  the 
mother's  womb,  so  was  he  wrested  from  his  Pharisaism. 
The  appearance  by  which  this  change  was  wrought 
is,  by  the  use  of  the  same  word  c^cfidrj,  represented  as 
being  equally  objective  with  the  appearances  to  the 
other  witnesses  of  the  Resurrection.  Paul  never  treats 
this  manifestation  as  of  the  same  order  as  "the  visions 
and  revelations  of  the  Lord,"  of  which  he  does  not  con- 
sider it  expedient  that  he  should  boast  {II.  Cor.  xii.  i). 
In  vindicating  his  apostleship  as  not  a  whit  behind  that 
of  any  of  the  others,  he  asks,  "  Have  I  not  seen  Jesus 
our  Lord  ?  "  clearly  referring  to  this  appearance  (I.  Cor. 
ix.  i).  He  is  probably  thinking  of  the  vision  on  the 
way  to  Damascus,  when  he  compares  his  own  enlighten- 
ment with  the  appearance  of  light  at  the  Creation 
(II.  Cor.  iv.  6).  "  The  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ " — would  Paul  have  so  described  an  inward  pro- 
cess of  growing  enlightenment?  Paul's  phrase  in  Gal.  i. 
15,  "  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me,"  does  not,  as  is  sometimes 
insisted,  contradict,  or  even  modify,  the  impression  which 
the  other  evidence  offers,  that  the  change  in  Paul  was 
brought  about  by  "  seeing  Jesus  "  and  hearing  His  voice. 
A  confirmation  of  the  mode  of  his  conversion,  as  a 
thorough  and  sudden   change   brought   about   by   the 


30     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

mighty  grace  of  Christ  Himself,  is  to  be  found  in  his 
conception  of  the  Christian  life  as  a  new  creation 
(II.  Cor.  V.  17  ;  Gal.  vi.  15). 

(5)  The  Recognition  of  what  the  Change  meant. — But 
just  as  we  have  learned  to  think  of  the  evolution  of 
nature  as  the  mode  of  divine  creation,  so  may  we  recog- 
nise that  it  was  only  slowly  Paul  learned  all  his  conver- 
sion meant.  He  confessed,  and  sealed  his  confession 
by  his  baptism,  that  Jesus  was  Messiah.  He  was 
possessed  by  the  same  "holy  enthusiasm"  as  charac- 
terised the  primitive  community.  In  the  synagogue  he 
proclaimed  Jesus  "  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God,"  he  proved 
that  "this  is  the  Christ"  (Acts  ix.  20,  22).  This  testi- 
mony would  doubtless  include  the  common  Christian 
teaching  "  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures;  and  that  he  was  buried,  and  that  he  hath 
been  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures  " 
(I.  Cor.  XV.  3,  4).  The  record  in  Acts  would  suggest 
that  he  taught  in  the  synagogue  in  Damascus  even  as  the 
other  witnesses,  but  with  a  passion  and  a  power  which 
provoked  greater  antagonism.  He  had  to  effect  his 
escape  secretly  from  Damascus,  as  a  plot  against  his  life 
was  formed  (ix.  23-25  ;  cf.  II.  Cor.  xi.  32-33,  where  Paul 
mentions  this  escape  as  one  of  the  things  that  concern 


PAUL   THE    BELIEVER  31 

his  weakness).  On  his  arrival  in  Jerusalem,  he  was 
suspected  by  the  Christian  community ;  but  Barnabas, 
who,  either  from  Paul  himself  or  from  others,  had  learned 
the  story  of  his  conversion  and  bold  preaching  in 
Damascus,  secured  for  him  a  friendly  welcome.  His 
preaching  to  the  Greek-speaking  Jews  again  awoke  a 
hate  which  threatened  his  life,  and  he  was  sent  off  to 
Tarsus  by  way  of  Csesarea  (26-30). 

If  we  had  only  the  record  in  Acts  before  us  we  might 
suppose  that  Paul  simply  learned  the  common  tradition 
about  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  although  he  was  able  to 
preach  it  with  greater  fervour  and  force,  attracting  more 
attention  and  exciting  warmer  opposition.  This  would 
explain  an  obscure  statement  regarding  his  knowledge 
of  "Christ  after  the  flesh"  (II.  Cor.  v.  16).  The 
conception  of  the  Messiah  in  the  primitive  community 
was  quite  consistent  with  the  restriction  of  its  preaching 
to  Jews.  Paul  himself  tells  us  that  he  left  Jerusalem 
because  Jesus  appeared  to  him  in  a  trance,  bidding 
him  depart  (i)  "because  they  will  not  receive  of  thee 
testimony  concerning  me,"  and  (2)  "for  I  will  send 
thee  forth  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles"  (xxii.  18,  21); 
and  indicates  that  he  himself  desired  to  continue 
bearing  witness   where   his  persecuting   zeal   was  best 


32     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

known.  At  this  point  we  might  suppose  a  change  in 
his  conception  of  the  Gospel,  and  consequently  in  his 
consciousness  of  his  vocation. 

But  when  we  turn  to  Paul's  account  of  his  actions 
after  his  conversion  (Gal.  i.  15-20),  this  view  seems 
to  fall  altogether  to  the  ground.  He  "conferred  not 
with  flesh  and  blood " ;  he  did  not  go  to  the  apostles 
in  Jerusalem,  but  went  away  to  Arabia;  only  after 
three  years  he  spent  fifteen  days  with  Cephas  in 
Jerusalem,  and  then  of  the  other  apostles  saw  only 
James.  Even  without  the  solemn  asseveration  with 
which  this  passage  closes,  Paul's  report  as  first  hand 
is  to  be  preferred  to  Luke's,  which  may  not  have 
come  to  him  directly. 

Paul's  aim  is  to  vindicate  his  independence  of 
the  other  apostles,  and  he,  therefore,  lays  stress  on 
the  circumstances  which  proved  it.  Luke's  intention 
is  rather  to  emphasise  the  essential  unity  of  Paul 
with  the  other  apostles.  It  is  possible  to  insert  the 
visit  to  Arabia,  which  need  not  have  lasted  very  much 
more  than  a  year,  in  the  narrative  in  Acts  ix.  between 
verses  21  and  22,  and  Luke  may  have  said  nothing 
about  it,  even  if  he  knew  of  it,  because  it  belonged 
to   Paul's    private    life    rather    than    public    ministry. 


PAUL   THE    BELIEVER 


His  account  of  Paul's  work  in  Jerusalem,  which 
finds  its  confirmation  in  Paul's  own  allusion  in  xxii. 
1 8-2 1,  if  we  may  regard  the  speech  as  authentic, 
suggests  a  publicity  which  Paul's  account  of  his  visit 
to  Cephas,  and  his  meeting  with  James  alone  of  the 
other  apostles,  does  not. 

The  view  of  a  gradual  spiritual  development,  stimu- 
lated by  intercourse  with  the  other  apostles,  has  greater 
psychological  probability.  Such  ignorance  of,  and 
indifference  to,  the  teaching  of  the  leaders  in.  the 
Christian  community  on  the  part  of  the  new  convert 
would  even  suggest  a  moral  problem.  Only  the  unique- 
ness, certainty,  and  sufficiency  of  the  revelation  by 
God  of  His  Son  in  Paul  can  explain  this  attitude 
of  independence.  It  was  not  because  he  despised 
flesh  and  blood  that  he  sought  no  conference  with 
it,  but  because  the  divine  revelation  so  completely 
absorbed  his  interest  and  attention.  In  the  months 
of  solitude  in  Arabia,  his  soul  alone  with  God,  he 
meditated  on  the  revelation  made  to  him,  and  his 
distinctive  Gospel  took  its  shape.  With  his  Gospel 
he  also  found  his  call  to  be  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 
While,  as  the  record  in  Acts  shows,  he  waited  for 
the   divine   guidance   in   events,   yet    we    do    not   do 


34     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

justice  to  his  self-witness  unless  we  admit  that  he 
became  aware  of  his  vocation,  if  not  at  his  conversion, 
yet  as  soon  as  he  realised  what  his  conversion  meant, 
what  was  involved  in  the  divine  revelation  which  in 
it  and  its  consequences  came  to  him.  In  a  personality 
like  Paul's,  we  must  be  prepared  for  the  exceptional 
rather  than  the  ordinary  in  experience. 

(6)  Paul's  Christian  Experience. — Without  at  this 
stage  attempting  to  formulate  his  theology,  we  may 
consider  the  essential  elements  of  his  Christian  ex- 
perience, as  he  describes  them  himself  in  Phil.  iii.  7-1 1. 
He  abandoned  the  desire  and  the  effort,  which  had 
marked  his  life  as  a  Pharisee,  for  a  righteousness  of 
his  own,  a  righteousness  secured  by  the  performance 
of  the  works  of  the  law.  He  welcomed  and  accepted 
the  righteousness  which  God  offered  in  Christ  to 
faith — that  is,  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins,  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  child  of  God  with  his  Father.  He 
secured  this  righteousness  in  Christ,  in  His  death 
and  rising  again.  It  is  probable  that  he  reached 
his  view  of  the  Cross  at  an  early  stage  of  his  Christian 
experience.  A  man  like  Paul  could  not  have  found 
peace  in  a  pardon  which  did  not  satisfy  his  con- 
science.    Guilt  was  removed  by  atonement ;  the  guilty 


PAUL   THE    BELIEVER  35 

sinner  lost  himself  by  being  found  in  the  atoning 
Saviour. 

The  divine  righteousness  in  Christ  brought  a  new 
moral  motive  and  moral  power  into  his  life,  the 
constraining  love  of  Christ  (IL  Cor.  v.  14-15),  his 
glorying  in  the  Cross  (Gal.  vi.  14).  There  is  the 
gratitude  of  human  self-surrender  for  the  grace  of 
the  divine  self-sacrifice.  The  record  in  Acts  tells 
us  that  Ananias  laid  his  hands  upon  him  that  "he 
might  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost"  (ix.  17).  This 
was  not  only  "a  holy  enthusiasm"  of  speaking  with 
tongues,  prophesying,  &c.,  but  also  "a  holy  energy" 
of  purity  and  benevolence  (Rom.  viii.  2).  It  was  by 
this  power  that  he  was  delivered  out  of  the  body  of 
death  (vii.  24). 

Paul  connected  the  righteousness  of  God,  in  which 
he  found  the  pardon  of  his  sins,  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
with  Jesus  Christ.  If  the  righteousness  of  God  is  re- 
vealed in  the  Cross,  the  Spirit  of  God  works  through 
the  Risen  Lord.  If  reconciliation  is  through  His  blood, 
salvation  as  the  complete  deliverance  from  sin,  its  guilt, 
power,  doom,  is  by  His  life  (v.  8-10).  Christian  life  for 
Paul  was  life  in  Christ.  To  gain  Christ,  to  be  found  in 
Him,  to  know  Him,  these  are  the  phrases  he  uses  to 


36     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

describe  the  relation.  This  union  and  communion  with 
Christ  is  a  reproduction  in  the  Christian  of  Christ's 
experience.  He  is  crucified  and  risen  with  Christ. 
His  renunciation  of  sin  is  crucifixion  with  Christ ;  his 
consecration  to  God  is  resurrection  with  Christ.  By 
this  Paul  means  more  than  that  Christ  is  the  type  of  his 
life  ;  Christ  is  also  the  source.  His  consecration  unto 
God  involved  sacrifice,  an  offering  of  himself  in  manifold 
ways  in  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel ;  and  this  for  him  is 
"the  fellowship  of  Christ's  sufferings,  becoming  con- 
formed unto  His  death."  Yet  in  the  sacrifice  he  always 
experiences  "the  power  of  His  resurrection,"  sustaining, 
inspiring,  delivering,  causing  to  triumph. 

Christ  brought  to  Paul  a  new  hope.  He  was  one 
who  felt  keenly  the  mystery  and  the  terror  of  death, 
but  because  for  him  to  live  was  Christ,  even  death  itself 
came  to  be  for  him  gain  (Phil.  i.  21).  He  was  con- 
fident that  in  Christ  the  mortal  would  be  swallowed 
up  of  life  (II.  Cor.  v.  4).  He  shrank  from  being 
unclothed  (disembodied),  and  thus  it  was  his  fervent 
aspiration  that  in  Christ  he  might  "attain  unto  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead"  (Phil,  iii,  11). 

The  Christian  experience  thus  sketched,  the  life  in 
Christ,  was    Paul's  in  circumstances  which  tested  and 


PAUL   THE    BELIEVER  37 

proved  its  worth.  His  life,  as  we  shall  see,  was  one  of 
constant  toils,  perils,  pains,  cares,  griefs,  struggles.  He 
suffered  not  only  in  himself,  but  for  others.  His  love 
for  his  converts  brought  him  a  double  burden  of 
anxiety  for  them,  often  disappointment  with  them, 
sometimes  even  ingratitude  from  them.  As  in  regard 
to  "  the  stake  in  the  flesh  "  (H.  Cor.  xii.  7,  9),  so  with 
respect  to  all  these  things,  he  found  Christ's  grace 
sufficient,  and  His  strength  perfected  in  his  own 
weakness.  What  that  "  stake  in  the  flesh  "  was,  it  seems 
idle  for  us  to  inquire,  for  all  endeavours  to  solve  the 
problem  have  proved  more  or  less  vain.  If  it  was 
disease,  it  was  a  disease  which  the  Apostle  himself  felt 
as  a  humiliation,  and  which  excited  the  contempt  of 
others  (Gal.  iv.  13,  14).  It  is  not  easy  to  understand 
how  the  Apostle,  who  bravely  suffered  so  many  hard- 
ships, was  so  distressed  by  this  suffering,  if  only  bodily 
pain  or  weakness  was  involved.  More  probable  is  the 
suggestion  that  it  was  a  recurrent  violent  temptation. 
To  the  writer  it  seems  not  unlikely  that  it  was  the 
haunting  memory  of  his  deeds  as  persecutor,  or  the 
permanent  consequence  of  some  of  these  acts,  which 
brought  his  soul  into  such  distress;  or  it  may  have 
been  the  violent  hostility  to  which,  in  his  labours  as 


38     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  he  was  exposed,  not  only  from 
unbelieving  Jews,  but  even  Jewish  Christians.  Some- 
times he  was  nigh  unto  despair,  yet  God  delivered 
him  (II.  Cor.  i.  8,   9). 

If  we  consider  his  circumstances,  it  must  be  a 
surprise  to  us  that  his  spirit  is  so  joyful  and  hopeful, 
and  that  his  letters  so  abound  in  praise  to  God. 
Almost  every  epistle  begins  with  thanksgiving.  The 
secret  of  his  life  is  surely  disclosed  in  the  counsel,  "  Pray 
without  ceasing  "  ;  without  this  he  could  not  have  bidden 
his  converts  "rejoice  alway"  and  "in  everything  give 
thanks"  (I.  Thess.  v.  16-18).  Had  he  not  continued 
steadfastly  in  prayer,  he  could  not  have  rejoiced  in  hope 
nor  been  patient  in  tribulation  (Rom.  xii.  12).  The 
point  of  view  from  which  he  regarded  his  whole  life 
gave  it  not  only  a  religious  sanction,  but  a  divine 
inspiration.  He  thought  of  all  his  labours  and  trials 
as  "a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  to  God,"  for 
him  "a  reasonable  service"  (Rom.  xii.  i),  as  man's 
thank-offering  for  God's  atoning  sacrifice.  Even  if 
death  was  involved  in  this  sacrifice  he  was  quite  willing 
for  it  (Phil.  ii.  17,  18). 

Although  Christ's  grace  abounded  toward  him,  yet 
does  he  speak  of  himself  as  chief  of  sinners  (I.  Tim. 


PAUL   THE    BELIEVER  39 

i.  15),  as  "less  than  the  least  of  all  saints"  (Eph.  iii.  8), 
as  "  the  least  of  the  apostles,  and  not  meet  to  be  called 
an  apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  church  of  God  " 
(L  Cor.  XV.  9).  He  was  humble,  not  only  because  he 
could  not  forget  the  persecutor,  but  also  because  he  was 
conscious  that  he  had  not  already  obtained,  nor  had 
already  been  made  perfect  (Phil.  iii.  13,  14).  If  at  first 
he  was  cheered  by  the  expectation  to  survive  until  the 
Second  Coming  of  Christ,  burdened  by  sorrows,  cares, 
sufferings,  he  came,  towards  the  end,  to  long  for  death, 
that,  absent  from  the  body,  he  might  be  at  home  with 
the  Lord  (11.  Cor.  v.  8).  Yet  he  was  willing  to  abide  in 
the  flesh  for  the  sake  of  his  converts  (Phil.  i.  25),  for, 
living  or  dying,  he  was  always  and  only  the  Lord's. 


CHAPTER  III 

PAUL   THE   MISSIONARY 

(i)  Paul  in  Antioch  with  Barnabas. — When  Paul  left 
Jerusalem  for  Tarsus  (Acts  ix.  30),  it  was  with  the 
consciousness  that  he  was  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the 
Gentiles  (21,  22).  He  was  not  idle,  but  laboured  in 
"  the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia"  (Gal.  i.  21)  probably 
for  seven  or  eight  years.  Meanwhile  the  Church  was 
being  prepared  to  undertake  a  wider  missionary  enter- 
prise. Stephen's  speech  (vii.)  was  the  first  declaration 
that  religion  was  independent  of  temple  and  law  alike ; 
and  possibly,  if  he  had  been  allowed  to  finish,  he  would 
have  claimed  that  the  Gentiles  would  be  chosen  instead 
of  the  Je>vs.  One  result  of  the  persecution  his  boldness 
provoked  was  Philip's  mission  to  Samaria  (viii.  1-13), 
and  the  confirmation  of  his  work  there  by  the  visit  of 
Peter  and  John  (14-25).  Peter's  visit  to  and  baptism 
of  Cornelius  (x.)  was  found  fault  with  in  Jerusalem,  and 


PAUL   THE    MISSIONARY  41 

he  had  to  justify  his  action  by  giving  an  account  of  the 
vision  that  had  overcome  his  own  scruples  (xi.  1-18). 
His  case  was  regarded  as  exceptional,  and  there  was, 
therefore,  not  a  little  surprise  in  Jerusalem  when  it  was 
reported  that  some  of  the  Hellenist  Jews  from  Cyprus 
and  Cyrene,  who  had  been  driven  to  Antioch  from 
Jerusalem  by  the  persecution,  had  ventured  to  preach 
to  the  Greeks,  and  that  a  number  of  them  had  believed. 
Barnabas  was  sent  down  to  inquire  and  report.  He 
was  quite  satisfied  with  what  had  been  done,  and  in 
order  to  strengthen  and  widen  the  work,  not  only 
remained  himself,  but  brought  Paul  from  Tarsus  to  be 
his  fellow-worker  (xi.  19-26).  If  we  may  venture  to 
read  between  the  lines,  Paul  had  during  these  years  in 
Tarsus  felt  keenly  his  isolation  from  the  Church  in 
Jerusalem,  and  its  failure  to  give  any  encouragement 
to  the  work  among  the  Gentiles,  to  which  he  felt  him- 
self called.  Only  such  a  feeling  of  disappointment 
can  explain  the  tone  of  his  references  to  his  relations  to 
the  apostles  (Gal.  i.  11-24).  His  call  t©  Antioch  he 
welcomed  as  the  opportunity  for  which  he  had  been 
waiting.  Such  a  mood  of  exaltation  would  account  for 
the  vision  to  which  he  refers  in  II.  Cor.  xii.  1-4. 

For  a  year  Paul  laboured  with  Barnabas  in  Antioch, 


42     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

and  such  was  the  success  of  the  Gospel  that  the  Church 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  heathen  populace,  and 
that  a  nickname  for  the  new  society  was  devised. 
"  The  disciples  were  called  Christians  first  in  Antioch  " 
(xi.  26).  Warned  by  the  prophet  Agabus  of  a  great 
famine,  which,  according  to  Josephus,  was  at  its  worst 
in  A.D.  45  or  46,  the  Church  in  Antioch,  to  show  its 
brotherly  love,  and  thus  to  win  over  the  narrow  Jewish 
section  in  Jerusalem  still  hostile  to  the  work  among 
the  Gentiles,  sent  its  most  distinguished  men,  Barnabas 
and  Paul,  with  a  generous  gift  to  relieve  the  need  of 
the  saints  in  Jerusalem.  Regarding  the  visit  (Acts 
xi.  27-30,  xii.  25)  there  is  a  serious  difficulty.  Paul 
describes  a  visit  to  Jerusalem,  fourteen  years  after 
either  his  first  visit  or  his  conversion  (Gal.  ii.  i-io). 
This  has  usually  been  identified  with  that  reported 
in  Acts  XV.  But  if  so,  why  is  Paul  altogether  silent 
about  this  visit  with  Barnabas  to  bear  these  gifts  from 
Antioch  ?  and  why  is  his  account  so  different  from 
that  of  Luke  ?  It  is  suggested  that  Paul  did  not 
mention  this  visit  because  it  had  no  bearing  on  the 
question  he  was  discussing,  his  relation  to  the  other 
apostles ;  but  to  pass  over  the  visit  in  silence  was  to  lay 
himself  open  to  the  charge,  which  his  enemies  would 


PAUL   THE    MISSIONARY  43 

have  been  only  too  ready  to  make,  that  he  was  hiding 
some  facts.  Again,  it  is  said  that  Paul  is  alone  con- 
cerned about  his  private  conferences  with  the  other 
apostles,  while  Luke  cares  only  for  the  public  action  of 
the  Church.  But  would  Paul  have  been  quite  straight- 
forward if  he  had  kept  silence  about  the  public  action 
which  followed  these  private  conferences,  for  in  that 
public  action  there  was  some  exercise  of  authority  on 
the  part  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem?  To  the  writer 
a  simpler  solution  seems  to  be  that  Paul  did  take 
advantage  of  his  presence  in  Jerusalem  with  Barnabas, 
on  the  second  visit,  to  secure  as  soon  as  possible  a 
recognition  of  his  independent  apostolate  to  the 
Gentiles.  As  the  bearer  of  a  gift  from  a  church 
consisting  largely  of  uncircumcised  members,  he  would 
be  able  to  insist  on  the  rights  of  the  Gentiles  to  be 
exempt  from  the  burden  of  the  Jewish  law.  The  case 
of  Titus,  probably  a  convert  from  Antioch,  was  a  test 
case ;  and  Paul  firmly  held  his  ground  against  the 
Judaisers.  Freedom  of  the  Gentiles  from  circumcision 
was  conceded  on  one  side ;  the  obligation  to  help  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem  in  its  need  was  accepted  on  the 
other.  The  writer  is  quite  aware  that  there  are 
difficulties  about  this,   as   every  other  solution  of  this 


44     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

problem ;  but  there  is  one  general  consideration  he 
'desires  to  urge.  It  seems  to  him  probable  that  the 
difficulty  about  circumcision  would  emerge  not  first  of 
all  after  the  first  missionary  tour,  but  as  soon  as  the 
Gospel  was  preached  to  the  Gentiles  and  they  were 
admitted  as  members  of  the  Church. 

If  we  may,  then,  identify  the  visit  described  in  Acts 
HI.  27-30  with  that  referred  to  in  Gal.  ii.  i-io,  we 
may  also  assume  that  Paul's  encounter  with  Cephas 
in  Antioch  (Gal.  ii.  11-21)  took  place  soon  after  the 
return  of  Paul  and  Barnabas.  As  entrusted  with  the 
gospel  of  the  circumcision,  Peter  may  not  only  have 
felt  himself  at  liberty,  but  even  under  an  obligation  to  go 
to  Antioch  to  look  after  the  Jews  in  the  congregation 
there.  If  he  was  sent  by  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  to 
see  that  the  compact  was  strictly  observed,  he  at  first 
did  not  prove  himself  the  proper  tool  of  Jewish 
exclusiveness.  He  was  so  far  carried  away  by  the 
spirit  of  Christian  brotherhood  in  the  Church  that  he 
freely  associated  and  even  "  did  eat  with  the  Gentiles." 
Did  reports  come  to  Jerusalem  which  led  James  to 
send  some  representatives  of  the  stricter  Jewish 
tendency  ?  These  messengers  from  Jerusalem  had 
influence   enough    to    lead    not    only    Peter,    but    even 


PAUL   THE    MISSIONARY  45 

Barnabas,  with  other  Jews,  to  change  their  practice. 
The  Church  was  divided,  the  Jews  holding  aloof  from 
the  Gentiles.  Paul  boldly  rebuked  Peter.  He  asserted 
that  as  salvation  was  not  by  works  of  the  law  but  by- 
faith  in  Christ,  even  the  Christian  Jew  must  not  so 
insist  on  the  observance  of  the  law  as,  by  withholding 
his  Christian  fellowship  from  his  Gentile  fellow-believer, 
to  bring  pressure  upon  him  to  conform  thereto.  Peter 
thoroughly  learned  the  lesson ;  for  surely  his  speech  at. 
the  assembly  in  Jerusalem,  recorded  in  Acts  xv.,  is  art 
echo  of  Paul's  confession.  "  We  believe  that  we  shall 
be  saved  through  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  like; 
manner  as  they  "  (ver.  11). 

There  are  two  objections  which  maybe  advanced  against 
placing  this  incident  at  so  early  a  date.  It  may  be  argued 
that  the  doctrine  here  stated  is  too  advanced,  as  it  is 
akin  to  that  expounded  in  Romans.  But  the  difference 
of  date  is  not  so  great  as  to  allow  for  any  marked  theo- 
logical development.  Further,  the  writer  holds  that  Paul's . 
experience  of  the  life  in  Christ  began  with  his  conversion, 
that  the  theological  interpretation  of  that  experience 
was  far  advanced  in  his  meditations  during  his  retire- 
ment in  Arabia  ;  and  that  here  no  conviction  is  asserted 
which  Paul  had  not  already  reached  at  the  date  assigned.^ 


46     LIFE    AND    TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

A  second  objection  is  that  we  must  assign  an  early 
date  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  prior  to  the  Council 
in  Jerusalem  (Acts  xv.);  and  scholars  generally,  owing 
to  the  resemblance,  place  it  about  the  same  time  as 
Romatis,  or  more  than  five  years  later  than  that  event. 
But  if  Romans  is  an  exposition  of  the  Gospel  Paul  held 
right  through  his  work  as  an  apostle,  and  does  not 
represent  a  merely  temporary  phase  of  his  thinking,  the 
resemblance  is  due  not  to  nearness  in  time  but  to  oneness 
of  faith.  Such  an  interval  of  time  would  explain  satis- 
factorily the  difference  of  tone  between  the  two  Epistles 
in  dealing  with  the  same  doctrines.  To  place  Galatians 
soon  after  Paul's  return  from  his  first  missionary  journey 
to  Antioch,  and  prior  to  his  going  up  to  Jerusalem  for 
the  discussion  of  the  problem,  disposes  satisfactorily  of 
the  difficulty  which  a  later  date  involves — Paul's  entire 
silence  regarding  the  requirements  imposed  by  the  Church 
in  Jerusalem  on  the  Gentiles.  If  the  question  thus  settled 
concerned  only  the  Church  at  Antioch,  as  the  record  in 
Acts  XV.  I,  2  would  suggest,  why  did  Paul,  in  passing 
through  Derbe,  Lystra,  and  Iconium,  deliver  *'  the  decrees 
for  to  keep  "  (xvi.  4)  ?  These  churches  had  already  been 
reached  by  the  Judaisers ;  and  the  Epistle  was  a  bold 
endeavour  to  avert  the  danger  Paul  saw  in  this  movement. 


PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY  47 

Surely  the  tone  of  the  letter  accords  well  with  the  time 
"when  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  no  small  dissensions  and 
questionings  with"  the  Judaisers  in  Antioch  (Actsxv.  2). 
The  early  dating  of  the  letter  assumes  the  truth  of  the 
South-Galatian  theory,  which  maintains  that  the  churches 
addressed  were  founded  on  Paul's  first  missionary  jour- 
ney in  the  southern  part  of  the  Roman  province  of 
Galatia ;  and  not  on  his  second  journey,  when  he 
passed  through  the  northern  part  of  the  province,  which 
was  also  racially,  as  well  as  politically,  Galatian  (the 
North-Galatian  theory). 

(2)  The  First  Missionary  Journey  (Acts  xiii.  and 
xiv.). — The  account  of  Paul's  travels  in  Acts  need  not 
be  reproduced  in  this  sketch  of  his  missionary  labours ; 
and  only  the  points  which  require  special  explanation 
will  be  mentioned.  When,  under  divine  guidance,  the 
Church  at  Antioch  resolved  on  a  missionary  enterprise, 
Barnabas  as  the  older  disciple,  and  at  this  time  the 
more  influential  servant  of  Christ  in  His  Church,  assumed 
the  leadership,  and  it  was  probably  he  who  decided  that 
his  own  native  Cyprus  should  be  the  first  scene  of 
labour.  Before  long  Paul's  greater  ability  and  courage 
secured  for  him  this  leadership.  It  was  at  Paphos  that 
Saul's  Hebrew  name  was  superseded  by  his  Greek  name 


48     LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

Paul,  and  that  he  came  to  the  front.  Whether  it  was 
this  change  or  the  new  leader's  decision  to  pass  inland 
from  Perga  to  Pamphylia  that  offended  Mark  or  not, 
we  cannot  tell,  but  he  withdrew  from  the  enterprise. 
It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  first  plan  had  been 
to  visit  the  coast  towns,  but  that  an  attack  of  malarial 
fever  drove  Paul  from  the  low-lying  coast-lands  into  the 
highlands  of  the  interior,  even  although  the  journey 
across  Mount  Taurus  into  Southern  Galatia  was  one  full 
of  perils  "from  rivers  and  from  robbers"  (11.  Cor. 
xi.  26).  The  cities  visited,  Antioch,  Iconium,  Derbe, 
and  Lystra,  were  not  in  the  old  country  of  Galatia,  but 
they  were  in  the  Roman  province  so  named,  and  it  is 
coming  now  to  be  generally  agreed  by  scholars  that  it 
was  to  these  churches  that  Paul's  letter  to  the  Galatians 
was  addressed.  He  was  in  ill-health  when  he  first 
visited  them  (Gal.  iv.  13-14). 

The  method  of  the  missionaries  in  the  cities  visited 
was  the  same.  The  synagogue  of  the  Jews  was  visited 
on  the  Sabbath ;  the  invitation  of  the  rulers  of  the 
synagogue,  who  saw  in  the  strangers  Jewish  scribes,  to 
speak  a  word  of  exhortation  was  accepted.  A  proof  of 
the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  was  then  oifered.  The  devout 
Gentiles  who  were  present  at  the  service  were  usually 


PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY  49 

more  impressed  than  the  Jews  themselves.  The  eager- 
ness of  the  Gentiles  to  hear  excited  the  jealousy  of  the 
unbelieving  Jews,  who  used  their  influence  to  secure 
the  expulsion  of  the  missionaries  from  the  city  by  mob- 
violence  or  the  action  of  the  city  government.  The 
sermon  preached  by  Paul  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia  may 
be  taken  as  typical  of  the  synagogue  addresses.  The 
speech  of  Paul  at  Lystra  is  an  example  of  his  mode  of 
address  to  the  Gentiles.  Here  a  miracle  so  excited  the 
superstitious  populace  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  were 
hailed  as  "  gods  in  the  likeness  of  men,"  and  prepara- 
tions were  made  for  their  worship.  A  rebuke  of  idolatry, 
and  an  appeal  to  recognise  the  one  God  who  revealed 
Himself  in  His  good  gifts  in  nature,  soon  restrained  this 
act.  Persecuted  in  every  city,  they  nevertheless  suc- 
ceeded in  gathering  together  a  Christian  community, 
consisting  mainly  of  Gentile  believers;  as  after  each 
failure  to  win  the  Jews  they  turned  to  the  Gentiles,  and 
preached  to  them  as  long  as  Jewish  hostility  would 
allow.  Instead  of  passing  out  of  Galatia  into  Cilicia,  and 
so  returning  to  Antioch,  they  revisited  these  churches,  to 
strengthen  and  encourage  the  believers,  and  gave  them 
a  simple  organisation  under  *'  elders,"  a  title  which  does 
not  prove  that  the  synagogue  was  imitated,  as  this  office 


50     LIFE   AND    TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

was  not  unknown  in  the  political  and  social  institutions  of 
Asia  Minor.  On  their  return  to  Antioch  they  reported 
how  "  God  had  opened  a  door  of  faith  to  the  Gentiles." 
(3)  The  Council  at  Jerusalem  (xv.  1-35). — Soon  after 
the  return  of  the  missionaries  they  were  faced  by  the 
demand  of  "certain  men  from  Judaea"  that  even  the 
Gentiles  must  be  circumcised  to  secure  salvation  in 
Christ.  The  Church  had  acquiesced  in  the  admission 
of  the  Gentiles  so  far,  but  probably  it  had  been  ex- 
pected that  these  cases  would  remain  exceptional,  and 
that  the  Church  would  still  be  predominantly  Jewish. 
The  success  of  the  mission  of  Paul  and  Barnabas 
excited  the  suspicion  of  the  narrow  Jewish  section ; 
and  it  was  decided  that  even  if  the  Gentiles  came  in 
in  large  numbers,  the  Church  must  retain  its  Jewish 
character.  It  has  already  been  suggested  that  the 
Jewish  propaganda  was  not  confined  to  Antioch,  but 
was  carried  to  Galatia,  and  that  it  was  in  the  heat  of 
the  controversy  in  Antioch  that  Paul  wrote  his  letter 
to  the  Galatians  to  ward  off  the  peril  from  his  converts 
by  asserting  his  independent  authority  as  an  apostle, 
and  proving  that  submission  to  circumcision  was  an 
abandonment  of  the  Gospel  of  justification  by  faith 
alone.     Had  the  letter  been  written  after  the  Council 


PAUL   THE   MISSIONARY  51 

at  Jerusalem,  at  which  the  apostles  recognised  the 
freedom  of  the  Gentiles,  it  would  have  been  ungracious 
in  Paul  so  to  assert  his  independence.  If  the  letter 
indicates  Paul's  mood  at  the  time,  we  may  conjecture 
that  it  was  with  reluctance,  and  only  to  preserve  the 
Church  from  a  disastrous  schism,  that  he  agreed  to 
discuss  the  question  with  the  apostles  in  Jerusalem. 
For,  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  not  prepared  to  recognise 
their  superior  authority ;  and  on  the  other,  he  was  too 
confident  of  the  truth  of  his  Gospel  to  acquiesce  in 
any  contradiction  of  it.  Possibly  his  having  been  able 
on  a  previous  visit  to  come  to  an  understanding  with 
some  of  the  apostles  (Gal.  ii.  i-io)  encouraged  him  to 
hope  that  the  difficulty  would  be  removed.  Both  Peter 
and  James,  though  from  different  standpoints,  asserted 
their  influence  to  get  a  settlement  of  the  difficulty.  The 
demand  for  circumcision  was  repudiated,  the  mission 
of  Barnabas  and  Paul  commended,  and  only  a  few 
requirements  were  made  of  the  Gentiles. 

As  regards  these  prohibitions,  a  few  words  of  explana- 
tion are  necessary.  The  phrase  "  from  the  pollutions 
of  idols "  is  equivalent  to  "  from  things  sacrificed  to 
idols"  (ver.  29).  Paul's  discussion  of  the  question  in 
I.  Cor.  viii.  1-13  and  x.  23-33  shows  that  he  did  not 


52     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

regard  this  decision  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  as 
binding  on  Corinth,  but  felt  himself  free  to  discuss  it 
on  the  basis  of  the  first  principles  of  Christian  liberty 
and  charity.  The  association  of  the  sin  o{  fornicatton 
with  these  ceremonial  restrictions  may  at  first  sight  sur- 
prise ;  but  we  have  only  to  remind  ourselves  that,  with 
certain  pagan  worships,  such  as  of  Aphrodite  and  Cybele, 
immoral  practices  were  closely  connected,  and  that 
laxity  in  sexual  relations  was  characteristic  of  heathen 
society,  to  see  how  necessary  it  was.  Paul  in  his  letters 
is  also  led  to  give  the  same  exhortation.  As  the  decision 
was  intended  to  facilitate  intercourse  between  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  the  Jewish  abstention  "  from  things  strangled 
and  from  blood,"  based  on  the  belief  that  "  the  blood 
is  the  seat  of  life,"  is  imposed  on  the  Gentiles,  so  that 
a  Jew  may  feel  free  to  eat  with  a  Gentile  brother, 
without  having  his  conscience  wounded  by  the  food 
that  may  be  set  before  him. 

Judas  and  Silas  were  sent  with  Barnabas  and  Paul  to 
Antioch  as  the  bearers  of  a  letter  conveying  this  decision  ; 
and  the  decrees  were  delivered  to  the  churches  in  South 
Galatia  (xvi.  4)  as  well  as  in  Syria  and  Cilicia  (xv.  23). 
The  missionary  enterprise  was  thus  delivered  from  a 
destructive  dangler. 


PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY  53 

(4)  The  Second  Missionary  Journey  (Acts  xv.  36- 
xviii.  22). — A  difference  of  opinion  about  the  fitness  and 
trustworthiness  of  Mark  as  a  companion  separated  the 
fellow-workers  Barnabas  and  Paul  in  the  next  effort  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  Barnabas  with  Mark 
went  to  Cyprus ;  Paul  w^ith  Silas  passed  through  Syria 
and  Cilicia  to  Galatia.  Mark's  place  was  soon  taken 
by  Timothy,  one  of  Paul's  converts  during  his  first  visit 
to  Lystra  (I.  Cor.  iv.  17),  a  disciple  very  dear  to  the 
heart  of  his  master.  It  was  no  concession  to  the 
Judaisers  that  Timothy  was  circumcised,  as,  though  his 
father  was  a  Greek,  his  mother  was  a  Jewess,  and  he 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  Jewish  faith  (II.  Tim.  i.  5, 
iii.  15);  and  it  was  never  Paul's  intention  to  claim  for 
the  Jews  exemption  from  the  rite.  Prophecy  had  pointed 
him  out  as  fit  for  the  task  (I.  Tim.  i.  18),  and  at  his 
ordination  a  special  gift  came  to  him  for  his  calling 
(iv.  14),  probably  the  "holy  enthusiasm"  so  often  men- 
tioned in  Acts. 

It  is  probable  that  Paul  meant  to  travel  due  west 
along  the  great  road  of  commerce  to  the  great  city  of 
Ephesus  ;  but  he  was  hindered  by  outward  circumstances 
or  inward  impulse,  which  he  regarded  as  the  guidance 
of  the  Spirit.     The  meaning  of  Acts  xvi.   6  has  been 


54     LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

much  disputed ;  without  discussing  the  question,  which 
the  limits  of  this  volume  forbid,  the  writer  must  briefly 
state  his  own  opinion,  that  one  district  is  described  in 
the  phrase  "  the  region  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia  "  (R.V.), 
and  that  Paul  did  not  on  this  journey  visit  Galatia 
proper.  Hedged  in  by  the  divine  hand  on  the  south 
and  the  north  alike,  the  missionaries  found  their  way  to 
Troas,  "an  important  seaport  and  Roman  colony  in 
Mysia,"  from  which  the  coast  of  Macedonia  was  visible. 
Here  Paul  had  a  vision  of  "  a  man  of  Macedonia,  stand- 
ing, beseeching  him,  and  saying,  Come  over  into 
Macedonia,  and  help  us,"  and  this  Paul  accepted  as 
an  intimation  of  the  divine  will  (xvi.  9,  10).  Can  we 
explain  this  vision  ?  The  thoughts  of  the  day  give  shape 
to  the  dreams  of  the  night.  In  Tarsus,  Paul  had  been 
brought  into  contact  with  Hellenic  culture.  Greece 
would  be  more  than  a  name  to  him.  Had  his  heart 
yearned,  when  he  saw  the  other  shore,  to  carry  the  Gospel 
hither  also  ?  As  in  the  narrative  in  Acts  at  this  point 
the  first  person  "  we  "  takes  the  place  of  the  third  person 
*'  they,"  a  proof  that  the  writer  now  became  Paul's  com- 
panion, Sir  W.  Ramsay  suggests  that  Paul  had  met  Luke 
the  previous  day,  and  that  the  vision  was  the  result  of  the 
encounter,  and  possibly  an  entreaty  Luke  had  addressed. 


PAUL   THE    MISSIONARY  55 

In  Philippi,  where  there  was  no  synagogue,  but  only 
a  meeting- place  by  the  river-side,  where  a  few  women 
gathered,  public  notice  was  called  to  the  work  of  the 
missionaries  by  the  cure  of  the  possessed  slave  maid,  and 
the  charge  brought  by  her  masters  against  them  before 
the  magistrates  of  the  city.  Here  for  the  first  time  we 
find  Paul's  appeal  to  his  Roman  citizenship  against 
their  illegal  action.  Although  Paul  and  his  companions 
complied  with  the  request  of  the  magistrates  to  leave  the 
city  so  as  to  avoid  further  disturbances,  a  Christian 
community  was  left  behind,  a  church  afterwards  very 
dear  to  Paul.  Luke  'remained  in  Philippi,  as  "  we " 
again  becomes  "  they." 

At  Thessalonica  the  method  and  the  result  were  the 
same  as  in  the  cities  of  South  Galatia :  an  appeal  to  the 
Jews  in  the  synagogue  is  met  w^ith  unbelief;  a  ministry 
is  exercised  among  the  Gentiles  until  persecution  is 
stirred  up  by  the  unbelieving  Jews.  I.  Thessalonians 
assumes  that  a  much  longer  time  for  work  among  the 
Gentiles  was  enjoyed  than  the  narrative  in  Acts  indi- 
cates. The  converts  were  exposed  to  manifold  severe 
persecutions,  but  remained  steadfast  (ii.  14).  Paul  had 
to  support  himself  by  his  trade,  "working  night  and 
day"  while  preaching  the  Gospel  (ver.  9).     Driven  by 


56     LIFE    AND    TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

the  Jewish  hostiUty  to  Bercea^  Paul  had  but  entered 
on  a  more  promising  ministry  there,  when  the  Jews  of 
Thessalonica  sent  their  messengers  to  stir  up  disorder. 
As  the  object  of  more  vehement  hostility  than  his  com- 
panions, Paul  alone  was  led  to  the  seashore,  probably 
quite  undecided  as  to  where  he  would  go  next,  while 
they  remained  behind  to  continue  the  work.  The  fact 
that  there  was  a  boat  available  decided  him  to  go  to 
Athens  ;  and  it  is  proof  of  his  affectionate  disposition 
that  he  felt  his  need  of  companions,  and  desired  Silas 
and  Timothy  to  join  him  there.  While  he  w^as  thus 
waiting  for  them  he  could  not  undertake  any  work,  for 
his  heart  was  too  full  of  tender  care  for  the  Church  in 
Thessalonica  for  him  to  give  his  labours  to  any  other 
place  (I.  Thess.  ii.  7  ;  cf.  II.  Cor.  ii.  12,  13).  He  robbed 
himself  of  the  much  -  longed  -  for  companionship  of 
Timothy  to  send  him  to  Thessalonica  (iii.  i,  2).  How 
genuine  a  Jew  Paul  was  is  shown  by  the  impression 
Athens  made  on  him.  His  surroundings,  instead  of 
awakening  the  glorious  memories  of  the  past,  roused  his 
anger  against  the  prevailing  idolatry.  He  could  not 
refrain  from  discussions  in  the  market-place,  in  which 
he  encountered  representatives  of  the  two  dominant 
philosophical  schools,    the    Stoic   and   the   Epicurean. 


PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY  57 

Although  he  excited  their  scorn,  and  was  mocked  with 
the  epithet  "  a  picker  up  of  trifles  "  (what  we  should 
now  call  a  quack),  he  was  asked  to  make  a  fuller  state- 
ment in  a  quieter  place.  It  is  uncertain  whether  he 
went  to  Mars  Hill  (the  Areopagus),  or  was  summoned 
before  the  court  so  named  to  prove  his  fitness  to  discuss 
such  matters.  His  speech  is  an  example  of  his  endeavour 
to  be  "  all  things  to  all  men."  He  tried  to  appeal  to  a 
cultured  audience  by  allusions  to  literature  and  philo- 
sophy ;  but  in  vain.  The  mere  mention  of  so  unfamiliar 
an  idea  as  the  resurrection  was  enough  to  break  the 
attention  and  to  provoke  the  contempt  of  most  of  his 
hearers,  only  a  few  having  their  curiosity  aroused. 
While  the  reference  to  the  resurrection  would  provoke 
the  Epicureans,  the  recognition  of  the  truth  of  Stoic  views 
failed  to  secure  their  support.  Paul  seems  to  have  felt 
the  failure ;  and  to  have  resolved  that,  instead  of  seek- 
ing to  wan  the  reason  by  argument,  he  would  henceforth 
move  the  conscience  by  preaching  Christ  Crucified 
(I.  Cor.  ii.  1-5). 

The  city  in  which  he  carried  out  this  resolve — Corinth 
— was  one  of  the  most  important  and  also  infamous  cities 
of  the  ancient  world.  Although  Luke  tells  us  very  little 
about  the  ministry,  lasting  eighteen  months,  Paul's  two 


58     LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

letters  to  the  Church  here  show  how  much  his  work 
now  meant  to  him  and  cost  him.  He  supported  himself 
with  the  labours  of  his  hands,  having  as  his  fellow- 
worker  Aquila,  a  Jew  of  Pontus,  who  had  been  ex- 
pelled from  Rome  under  a  decree  of  Claudius,  issued, 
according  to  Suetonius,  as  a  punishment  for  the  riotous 
conduct  of  the  Jews  under  the  instigation  of  Chrestus. 
(This  is  supposed  to  be  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  the 
Roman  historian ;  the  disputes  were  whether  Jesus  was 
the  Christ  or  not.)  Aquila's  wife  Priscilla  is  by  Dr. 
Hort  regarded  as  "  a  member  of  a  distinguished  Roman 
family,"  who  lost  caste  because  of  her  marriage  to  a  Jew, 
but  afterwards  gained  a  high  position  in  the  Roman 
Church.  Dr.  Harnack  assigns  to  her  the  authorship  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Both  husband  and  wife 
were  among  Paul's  most  valued  friends  and  helpers 
(Rom.  xvi.  3,  4). 

Until  Silas  and  Timothy  joined  him,  Paul  was  tor- 
mented by  his  fears  regarding  the  Church  at  Thessalonica, 
but  he  was  relieved  when  Timothy  assured  him  of  the  con- 
stancy of  the  converts  (I.  Thess.  iii.  7,  8).  /.  Thessalonians 
was  written  not  long  after  to  give  the  persecuted  Church 
the  comfort  and  assurance  which  it  needed,  and  he  had 
desired  to  give  in  person  (ii   7.  8).     Here  Paul  teaches 


PAUL   THE    MISSIONARY  59 

that  the  believers  who  die  before  the  Second  Advent  will 
not  be  at  any  disadvantage,  as  they  will  be  raised  first, 
and,  along  with  the  living,  be  caught  up  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air  (iv.  16,  17).  The  prominence  of  the  subject  of 
the  Second  Advent  in  this  letter,  and  the  absence  of  the 
more  distinctive  Pauline  Gospel  found  in  Galatians  and 
Romans,  are  probably  due  to  the  special  condition  and 
temporary  necessities  of  the  Church.  Not  many  months 
later  //  Thessalonians  was  written  to  remove  difficulties 
caused  by  the  first  Epistle,  and  to  correct  teaching  which 
was  being  given  with  a  claim  to  possess  the  Apostle's 
authority  (II.  Thess.  ii.  2).  He  here  expresses  the  view 
that  the  Second  Advent  cannot  be  immediate,  but  must  be 
preceded  by  a  certain  course  of  events  :  till  the  restraint 
of  the  Roman  Empire  is  removed,  Judaism  cannot  reach 
its  full  apostasy. 

In  Corinth,  as  elsewhere,  Paul  had  to  turn  from  the 
Jews  to  the  Gentiles.  He  won  many  converts  among 
the  lower  classes  (I.  Cor.  i.  26).  So  keen  was  the  hate 
of  the  Jews  that  Paul  nearly  lost  heart,  and  needed  the 
encouragement  given  him  in  a  vision  of  the  night.  An 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  to  invoke  the  Roman 
law  against  Paul  failed,  owing  to  the  fairness  of  the 
Roman  official  Gallio  ;  and  was  followed  by  an  outbreak 


6o     LIFE    AND   TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

of  violence  by  the  Greeks  against  the  Jews,  which  Gallio 
viewed  with  contemptuous  indifference.  Paul  was  able 
to  stay  a  little  longer;  when  he  left,  it  was  to  hasten 
to  Jerusalem  to  be  present  at  one  of  the  feasts.  At 
Cenchrese,  the  port  of  Corinth,  he  had  his  head  shorn, 
for  "  he  had  a  vow."  Why  did  Paul  follow  this  Jewish 
custom  ?  and.  What  reason  had  he  for  so  doing  ?  Luke 
gives  us  no  word  of  explanation. 

(5)  The  Third  Missionary  Journey  (Acts  xviii.  23- 
xxi.  16). — Paul  began  his  third  missionary  journey  by 
revisiting  the  churches  in  South  Galatia;  but  pushed 
westward  to  keep  his  promise  to  revisit  Ephesus,  where 
his  coming  had  been  prepared  for  not  only  by  the 
labours  of  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  but  also  by  the  elo- 
quent, learned,  and  persuasive  preaching  of  Apollos,  a 
Jew  from  Alexandria,  who  may  have  been  a  disciple  of 
Philo,  the  greatest  Jewish  teacher  of  that  age,  who  had 
accepted  the  testimony  of  John  regarding  Jesus,  and 
had  confessed  his  faith  in  baptism,  but  who  had  not 
yet  entered  into  the  fuller  experience  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  the  presence  of  the  Risen  Lord  and  the 
working  of  His  Holy  Spirit.  This  Priscilla  and  Aquila 
now  imparted  to  him  ;  and  departing  to  Corinth,  he  there 
powerfully  showed  Christ's  Messiahship.     In  somewhat 


PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY  6i 

similar  a  position  were  the  disciples  whom  Paul  found 
in  Ephesus,  who  had  not  experienced  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  did  not  even  know  it  had  been  given. 
After  an  explanation  of  the  difference  between  the 
baptism  of  John  and  baptism  in  the  name  of  Jesus, 
they  were  baptized,  and  on  Paul's  laying  his  hands 
upon  them,  showed  the  new  inspiration. 

After  three  months  in  the  synagogue,  Paul  entered  on 
a  ministry  among  the  Gentiles  which  lasted  two  years. 
As  Ephesus  was  the  most  important  city  in  the  province 
of  Asia,  in  active  and  constant  intercourse  with  all 
the  inland  towns,  it  became  a  centre  of  widespread 
Christian  preaching.  Probably  at  this  time  the  churches 
at  Colossae,  Hierapolis,  and  Laodicea,  of  which  we 
afterwards  hear,  and  others  also  were  founded  (I.  Cor. 
xvi.  19). 

Paul's  exercise  of  his  power  of  healing  to  a  wider 
extent  than  seems  to  have  been  his  usual  custom  {cf. 
Rom.  XV.  19  and  II.  Cor.  xii.  12)  attracted  general 
attention  to  his  Gospel ;  but  we  must  surely  regard  the 
statement  in  Acts  xix.  12  as  reflecting  the  popular 
credulity,  as  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Paul  would 
encourage  such  magical  practices.  An  attempt  of 
Jewish  exorcists  to  use  the  name  of  Jesus  resulted  in 


62     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

their  discomfiture;  and  so  deep  an  impression  was 
made  by  this  event,  that  many  books  containing  magical 
formulae  were  publicly  burned  (the  value,  Luke  is  careful 
to  note,  was  ^^1980).  In  this  way,  too,  the  influence 
of  the  Gospel  was  increased ;  and  so  great  were  the  re- 
sults of  Paul's  ministry  that  the  trades  which  prospered 
by  the  abounding  idolatry  of  the  city  began  to  feel 
themselves  hard  hit.  Demetrius  stirred  up  his  fellow- 
tradesmen,  the  makers  of  silver  images  of  Diana,  which 
the  worshippers  at  her  temple  bought  as  a  remembrance 
of  their  visit.  Business  interest  was  skilfully  disguised 
as  religious  zeal,  and  an  outbreak  of  popular  fanaticism 
was  provoked,  which  the  secretary  of  the  municipal 
council  of  Ephesus  required  all  his  skill  in  argument 
and  warning  to  restrain.  Paul  wanted  to  face  the  mob, 
but  was  dissuaded  by  the  Asiarchs,  "the  officials  ap- 
pointed by  the  different  cities  of  the  province  of  Asia 
to  superintend  the  temples  erected  in  honour  of  the 
Roman  Emperor,  and  the  Imperial  games."  Probably 
this  is  only  one  instance  of  the  persecutions  he  endured 
in  Ephesus  (I.  Cor.  iv.  11-13,  xv.  32).  But  on  this 
occasion  the  peril  seems  to  have  been  so  great  that 
he  delayed  no  longer,  and  started  on  his  journey  into 
Macedonia. 


PAUL   THE   MISSIONARY  63 

Luke  gives  us  a  brief  indication  of  Paul's  plans  while 
in  Ephesus.  He  intended  to  travel  through  Macedonia 
and  Achaia,  and  then  go  up  again  to  Jerusalem.  In 
his  next  journey  he  looked  forward  to  reaching  Rome. 
He  sent  Timothy  and  Erastus  to  prepare  for  his  coming, 
but  himself  remained  a  little  longer  in  Asia.  We  must 
turn  to  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  to  supple- 
ment the  story  in  Acts.  The  reconstruction  of  the 
history  must  be  admitted  to  be  conjectural ;  but  to  the 
writer  it  seems  fully  sustained  by  the  available  evidence. 
Paul  in  I.  Cor.  v.  9  refers  to  a  previous  epistle.  A 
fragment  of  this  epistle  is  probably  preserved  in  II.  Cor. 
vi.  14-vii.  I,  a  passage  which  interrupts  the  context  in 
which  Paul  is  dealing  with  his  personal  relations  to  his 
converts,  by  a  stern  warning  against  association  with 
unbelievers  and  their  idolatry  and  immorality.  His 
warning  had  been  regarded  as  unpractical,  and  so  Paul 
modifies  it  in  so  far  as  to  admit  that  the  Christians  need 
not  judge  those  without  as  regards  their  morals,  but 
should  preserve  a  high  standard  within  the  Church. 
Receiving  unfavourable  reports,  but  unable  at  once  to 
visit  Corinth  himself,  he  sent  Timothy  (I.  Cor.  iv.  17-19) 
to  put  them  in  remembrance  of  his  ways  in  Christ.  A 
letter  reached  him  from  Corinth,  containing  a  number 


64     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

of  questions  regarding  the  moral  practices  and  the  social 
relations  of  the  converts,  in  regard  to  which  there  was 
acute  difference  of  opinion ;  and  from  the  bearers  of 
the  letter  he  heard  with  grief  and  anger  of  party  spirit, 
moral  laxity,  disorders  in  worship.  The  letter  which 
is  generally  known  as  /.  Corinthians^  although  it  is  not 
Paul's  first  letter,  contains  a  full  answer  to  the  questions, 
and  a  bold  treatment  of  the  situation  in  Corinth.  He 
here  expresses  his  intention  to  pass  through  Macedonia 
to  Corinth  in  order  to  receive  the  collection  which  the 
Gentile  churches  were  making  for  the  poor  in  Jerusalem, 
to  remain  some  time  in  Corinth,  it  may  be  even  to  winter 
there ;  but  this  journey  he  cannot  undertake  till  Pente- 
cost, for  in  Ephesus  "  a  great  door  and  effectual  is 
opened  unto  me,  and  there  are  many  adversaries " 
(xvi.  8,  9).  He  commends  Timothy,  who  has  already 
started  for  Corinth,  to  their  respect.  The  letter  was 
possibly  sent  by  the  hand  of  Titus.  Further  news  from 
Corinth  was  of  so  grave  a  character,  however,  that  Paul 
paid  a  brief  visit  to  it,  probably  taking  the  shorter  sea- 
voyage.  In  II.  Cor.  xii.  14,  and  xiii.  i,  he  speaks  of 
his  approaching  visit,  which  on  the  common  view  was 
only  his  second,  as  "  the  third  time."  During  this  visit 
he  promised  them  two  further  visits  (II.  Cor.  i.  15,  16). 


PAUL    THE    MISSIONARY  65 

Either  he  was  insulted  while  in  Corinth  by  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Church,  with  the  acquiescence  of  the 
other  members,  or  more  probably  an  insult  was  re- 
ported to  him  after  his  departure.  The  passage  in 
11.  Cor.  ii.  5-1 1  cannot  possibly  refer  to  the  moral 
offender  denounced  in  I.  Cor.  v.  1-8,  for  Paul  could 
write  as  he  does  there  only  of  some  personal  injury. 
He  was  by  his  grief  brought  nigh  unto  death  (II.  Cor. 
i.  8-9).  He  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Church  "out  of  much 
affliction  and  anguish  of  heart,"  "with  many  tears  "  (ii.  4), 
and  despatched  it  by  Titus,  who  seems  to  have  been  a 
stronger  personality  than  Timothy,  and  better  able  to 
handle  a  difficult  situation.  Some  scholars  maintain 
that  part  of  this  letter  is  preserved  in  II.  Cor.  xii.-xiii. 
10,  as  the  tone  of  these  chapters  is  far  more  severe  than 
that  of  the  rest  of  the  letter,  and  altogether  corresponds 
with  the  description  Paul  himself  gave  of  the  letter  he 
had  sent.  The  other  explanation,  that  Paul  here  turns 
from  the  now  friendly  majority  to  the  still  hostile 
minority  is  not  so  satisfactory.  He  also  changed  his 
mind  about  going  by  sea  to  Corinth  on  his  way  to 
Macedonia,  and  decided  to  travel  by  the  longer  route 
through  Macedonia,  so  that  he  might  hear  the  results 
of  the  letter  and  Titus'  action.      The  tide  of  feeling 


66     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

in  Corinth  was  thoroughly  turned.  Although  Paul  left 
Ephesus  in  great  distress  of  mind,  and  could  not  avail 
himself  of  the  opportunity  of  preaching  the  Gospel  in 
Troas,  because  he  had  not  then  met  Titus,  and  so  there 
was  no  relief  for  his  spirit,  yet  when  Titus  at  last  met  him 
in  Macedonia  the  report  was  so  favourable  that  he  at 
once  wrote  //.  Corinthiafis  to  express  his  gratitude,  and 
to  complete  his  reconciliation  with  the  Church  (ii.  12- 
14,  vii.  14-16,  ix.  15).  This  letter  is  one  of  the  most 
touching  "  human  documents  " ;  for  in  it  Paul  lays  bare 
his  heart. 

After  passing  through  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  Paul 
came  to  Corinth,  where  he  spent  three  months.  There 
he  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans^  in  which  he  has 
more  clearly,  fully,  and  calmly  set  forth  his  Gospel 
than  in  any  other  writing.  It  was  not  composed  as 
a  theological  treatise,  but  as  a  genuine  letter.  His 
friends  Priscilla  and  Aquila  were  in  Rome;  and  pro- 
bably he  was  answering  their  questions  to  enable  them 
to  deal  effectively  with  difficulties  advanced  against 
his  Gospel  in  Rome.  As  his  aspiration  was  still  to 
carry  the  Gospel  to  Rome,  he  wrote  to  secure  for 
himself  a  welcome  there;  for  in  Rome  he  would  not 
be  the  pioneer  missionary   founding   the   church,   but 


PAUL   THE   MISSIONARY  67 

one,    hitherto   a   stranger,    offering   a    spiritual   gift   to 
a  church  already  founded. 

A  plot  of  the  Jews  to  kill  him  forced  him  to  give 
up  his  plan  to  leave  Corinth  by  sea;  and  travelling 
northward  to  Macedonia,  he  secured  the  collection 
which  he  had  been  so  zealous  in  commending  for 
the  poor  in  Jerusalem;  but,  to  disarm  suspicion,  he 
insisted  on  a  delegate  from  each  church  accompanying 
him  to  Jerusalem.  At  Troas,  Luke  rejoined  Paul, 
and  the  "we"  passages  begin  again.  It  is  probable 
that  the  youth  Eutychus,  whom  Luke  represents  as 
restored  to  life,  had  only  fallen  into  a  swoon,  and 
that  Paul's  words,  "Make  ye  no  ado,  for  his  life 
is  in  him,"  are  a  simple  recognition  of  the  fact.  Paul's 
farewell  address  to  the  elders  of  the  Church  of 
Ephesus  at  Miletus  may  be  taken  as  an  example 
of  his  relations  to  the  leaders  of  the  churches  he 
had  founded.  His  own  foreboding  that  he  would 
never  see  these  elders  again  was  confirmed  by  the 
warning  "through  the  Spirit''  given  by  the  disciples 
at  Tyre,  and  the  symbolic  action  of  Agabus  the  pro- 
phet at  Csesarea.  But  the  sorrowing  entreaties  of 
the  brethren  could  not  turn  Paul  from  his  purpose; 
for   he   was   prepared    "not    to    be   bound   only,    but 


68     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

even  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."  With  the  entry  into  Jerusalem,  Paul  the 
missionary  begins  to  be  Paul  the  martyr. 

Why  did  Paul  insist  on  going  to  Jerusalem?  As 
his  letters  show,  in  Galatia  and  in  Corinth,  and  later 
in  Philippi,  his  Gospel  was  being  attacked,  and  his 
apostolate  was  being  challenged  by  Judaisers,  who 
could  with  some  reason  pretend  that  their  standpoint 
had  the  sympathy  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem.  No 
purpose  was  so  dear  to  Paul's  heart  as  the  unity 
of  the  Christian  Church,  the  reconciliation  of  Jew  and 
Gentile.  He  attached  a  sacrificial  significance  to  the 
offerings  of  the  Gentile  churches  which  he  was  taking 
up  to  Jerusalem.  Although  he  knew  full  well  how 
great  was  the  risk  he  ran  from  Jewish  hate,  yet, 
as  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  he  felt  bound  to 
present  this  offering  in  person.  He  was  ready,  if 
need  be,  to  seal  with  his  blood  the  covenant  of 
brotherly  love  between  Jew  and  Gentile.  His  plans 
as  a  missionary  were  not  yet  accomplished,  for  he 
hoped  to  visit  Rome,  and  then  Spain  (Rom.  xv.  28); 
but  as  he  drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  Jerusalem,  one  thing 
alone  seemed  to  be  left  for  him  to  do — to  die  for  the 
unity  of  Christ's  Church  and  the  glory  of  His  Name. 


CHAPTER    IV 

PAUL   THE   BUILDER 

By  his  preaching  Paul  sought  not  only  to  win  individual 
converts,  but  to  found  Christian  communities.  Fellow- 
ship was  essential  for  the  life  and  labours  of  the 
converts,  and  to  secure  that  fellowship  some  organisa- 
tion was  necessary.  Paul  was  not  only  a  fervent 
preacher  and  deep  thinker,  he  was  also  a  skilful 
organiser;  and  in  his  organisation  he  was  guided  by 
large  and  lofty  principles.  He  was  a  wise  master- 
builder  on  the  one  foundation,  Jesus  Christ,  of  the 
temple  of  God,  the  habitation  of  His  Spirit. 

(i)  Paul's  Conception  of  the  Church. — We  must 
first  of  all  understand  his  conception  of  the  Church. 
Wherever  a  number  of  converts  were  united  for  their 
common  worship,  witness,  and  work,  there  Paul  saw 
the  Church  of  God.  The  Church  in  Corinth  is  de- 
scribed   as     a     body,    complete,    because     possessed, 

69 


70     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

controlled,  and  endowed  with  diverse  gifts  by  "  the 
same  Spirit"  (I.  Cor.  xii.).  Thus  he  regarded  each 
local  congregation  as  a  complete  Church.  But  he  did 
not  think  of  these  churches  as  isolated  from  or  in- 
dependent of  one  another.  The  whole  body  of  believers 
on  earth  is  thought  of  as  one  church  in  such  passages 
as  I.  Cor.  xii.  28,  in  which  are  mentioned  ministers 
who  did  not  confine  their  labours  to  the  local  congre- 
gation, but  travelled  from  church  to  church ;  and  xv.  9, 
"  I  persecuted  the  church  of  God "  (no  local  limita- 
tion is  mentioned;  cf.  Gal.  i.  13).  There  seems  to 
be  a  third  sense  in  which  Paul  uses  the  term  church. 
In  the  later  Epistles  of  Colossians  and  Ephesians  it  is 
not  the  empirical  reality  he  is  thinking  of,  but  rather 
the  spiritual  ideal,  for  he  speaks  of  the  Church  as  the 
body  of  Christ,  the  fulfilment  or  complement  of  Him 
that  filleth  all  in  all  (Col.  i.  18,  24 ;  Eph.  i.  23).  In 
building  on  earth  Paul  had  before  him  the  pattern 
laid  up   in  heaven. 

(2)  The  Local  Organisations. — In  the  South  Galatian 
churches  Paul  appointed  "  elders  in  every  church  "  (Acts 
xiv.  23),  and  when  Timothy  was  set  apart  as  Paul's 
companion,  it  was  by  *'the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
presbytery"  (I.  Tim.  iv.   14).     In  Ephesus  there  were 


PAUL    THE    BUILDER  71 

elders  (Acts  xx.  17),  and  their  work  of  oversight  is  de- 
scribed in  Paul's  exhortation  (ver.  28).  In  Philippi  there 
were  bishops  and  deacons  (Phil.  i.  i).  It  is  generally 
held  that  the  terms  elder  and  bishop  are  synonymous, 
and  that  the  elders  or  bishops  taught  and  administered 
the  affairs  of  the  church  generally,  while  the  deacons 
looked  after  the  alms.  The  Thessalonians  are  exhorted 
"  to  know  them  that  labour  among  you  and  are  over  you 
in  the  Lord,  and  admonish  you,  and  to  esteem  them 
exceeding  highly  in  love  for  their  work's  sake  "  (I.  Thess. 
V.  12,  13).  In  I.  and  II.  Cor.  there  is  no  allusion  to 
any  officers  in  the  church,  and  the  whole  body  of 
believers  is  addressed  in  the  demand  for  the  exercises 
of  discipline  (I.  Cor.  v.  4).  The  Pastoral  Epistles  in- 
dicate a  firmer  organisation  under  bishops  or  elders 
and  deacons  (I.  Tim.  iii.  1-13;  Titus  i.  5-9). 

But  we  should  quite  misunderstand  Paul  if  we  sup- 
posed that  he  had  in  view  an  external  official  authority. 
His  standpoint  is  indicated  in  I.  Cor.  xii.  and  Rom. 
xii.  The  Church  is  endowed  by  the  same  Spirit  with 
diversities  of  gifts,  which  include  not  only  wisdom, 
knowledge,  faith,  gifts  of  healing,  workings  of  miracles, 
discerning  of  spirits,  divers  kinds  of  tongues,  the 
interpretation  of  tongues   (I.  Cor.    xii.  8,  9),  but  also 


72     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

helps  and  governments  (ver.  28).  All  these  gifts  .are  to 
be  exercised  for  the  common  good  in  the  more  excellent 
way  of  love  (ver.  31).  Prophecy,  ministry,  teaching, 
exhorting,  ruling,  are  a  grace  to  be  used  even  as  giving 
or  showing  mercy ;  and  in  the  exercise  of  each  love  is 
to  be  without  hypocrisy  (Rom.  xii.  6-9).  While  local 
conditions  may  have  determined  the  simple  form  of 
organisation,  it  is  on  the  inspiration  of  each  member,  and 
his  use  of  the  gift  so  given  by  the  Spirit  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole  body,  that  the  witness,  worship,  and  work 
of  each  church  depend. 

(3)  The  Ministers  of  the  Whole  Church. — Some 
of  these  gifts  were  not  exercised  in  one  church  only. 
The  apostles,  prophets,  teachers,  belonged  to  all  the 
churches,  and  travelled  from  one  to  the  other.  Paul 
attached  very  great  importance  to  his  apostleship.  The 
Judaisers  sought  to  get  rid  of  his  Gospel  of  free  grace 
without  the  works  of  the  law  by  challenging  his  authority, 
and  undermining  his  influence  as  an  apostle.  He  claimed 
to  be  an  apostle  "  not  from  man,  neither  through  man, 
but  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  God  the  Father,  who 
raised  him  from  the  dead  "  (Gal.  i.  i).  His  Gospel  he 
had  not  received  from  man,  nor  had  he  been  taught 
it,  but  "  through  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,"  God's  Son 


PAUL   THE    BUILDER  73 

in  him  (ver.  12).  He  sought  no  conference  with 
flesh  and  blood,  not  even  with  the  apostles  that  were 
before  him  (16,  17).  When  he  did  meet  the  apostles, 
they  imparted  nothing  to  him ;  but  recognised  that  as 
Peter  had  been  entrusted  with  the  Gospel  of  the  cir- 
cumcision, so  he  with  the  Gospel  of  the  uncircumcision 
(ii.  6,  7).  He  was  called  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles. 
When  his  apostleship  is  challenged,  he  appeals  to  three 
evidences  of  it.  He  has  seen  Jesus,  and  so  can  be 
a  witness  of  the  resurrection  (L  Cor.  ix.  i ;  cf.  xv.  8,  9). 
God  has  given  the  seals  of  his  apostleship  in  his 
converts.  "  Are  not  ye  my  work  in  the  Lord  ?  "  (ix. 
I ;  cf.  II.  Cor.  iii.  1-4).  All  the  signs  of  an  apostle 
were  wrought  in  him  in  '*  all  patience,  by  signs  and 
wonders  and  mighty  works"  (xii.  12).  His  sorrows, 
hardships,  perils,  and  persecutions  are  proof  also  that  he 
is  more  than  any  other  the  minister  of  Christ  (xi.  23-29). 
His  claim,  above  all,  is  that  he  is  one  with  Christ  in 
suffering  for  the  Church.  "  From  henceforth  let  no 
man  trouble  me;  for  I  bear  branded  on  my  body  the 
marks  of  Jesus"  (Gal.  vi.  17).  The  authority  of  the 
apostle  is  not  official;  it  is  personal,  relation  to  God 
in  Christ. 

(4)  The  Unity  of  the  Church. — Paul  insisted  on  his 


74     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

independence  as  an  apostle,  his  authority  as  such  in  the 
Gentile  churches ;  but  while  he  did  this  for  the  sake 
of  his  Gospel,  he  did  not  desire  to  endanger  the  unity 
of  the  Christian  Church.  Hence  he  consented  to  the 
conference  with  the  Church  in  Jerusalem  regarding  the 
demand  of  the  Judaisers,  that  even  Gentiles  must  be 
circumcised  (Acts  xv.).  Had  the  decision  been  other 
than  it  was,  we  may  venture  to  believe  that  Paul  would 
have  acted  firmly  and  boldly  as  he  did  in  the  case  of 
Titus.  He  would  have  given  place  "in  the  way  of 
subjection,  no,  not  for  an  hour,  that  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  might  continue"  (Gal.  ii.  5).  As  the  principle 
of  the  liberty  of  the  Gentiles  was  conceded,  he  accepted 
the  restriction  on  that  liberty  in  the  interests  of  the 
unity  of  Jew  and  Gentile  in  the  Church,  even  as  he 
advised  the  "strong"  in  the  Church  in  Corinth  and 
Rome  to  respect  the  scruples  of  the  "  weak  "  (I.  Cor. 
viii.,  Rom.  xiv.).  He  delivered  "  the  decrees  for  to  keep 
which  had  been  ordained  of  the  apostles  and  elders  that 
were  at  Jerusalem"  in  the  churches  of  Syria,  Cilicia, 
and  Galatia ;  but,  as  the  passages  just  referred  to  show, 
he  felt  himself  at  liberty  in  other  churches  to  discuss 
the  question  of  food  afresh,  without  any  reference  to 
these  decrees.     Not  by  the  submission  to  the  Church  in 


PAUL   THE    BUILDER  75 

Jerusalem  of  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles  did  he  seek 
unity.  The  collection  for  the  saints  in  Jerusalem, 
which  he  appointed  in  all  the  Gentile  churches,  was 
the  gift  of  love  by  which  he  aimed  and  hoped  to  over- 
come estrangement,  and  keep  peace.  It  was  not  a 
tribute  which  could  be  exacted  in  compensation  for 
a  concession  made.  But  in  this  giving  and  receiving, 
Paul  hoped  to  keep  unbroken  the  Christian  fellowship 
of  Jew  and  Gentile. 

(5)  Paul's  Service  to  the  Unity. — In  the  Gentile 
churches  which  Paul  himself  founded,  the  unity  was 
maintained  first  and  most  of  all  by  the  Apostle's  own 
visits,  by  the  letters  that  he  wrote,  and  by  the  mes- 
sengers, his  younger  companions  in  travel,  such  as 
Titus  and  Timothy,  whom  he  entrusted  with  special 
tasks  according  to  the  needs  and  dangers  of  the 
churches.  How  much  Paul  himself  meant  to  these 
churches !  In  his  busy  brain  and  loving  heart  these 
churches  had  a  unity  of  thought  and  life  such  as  no 
creed  or  polity  could  have  conferred.  He  lived  for  his 
converts,  and  he  lived  in  them.  Anxiety  for  all  the 
churches  daily  pressed  on  him.  "  Who  is  weak,  and  I  am 
not  weak  ?  Who  is  made  to  stumble,  and  I  burn  not  ?  " 
(II.   Cor.  xi.   28,   29).      Was  a  Church  threatened   by 


76     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

error?  He  was  ready  to  expound  the  corrective  truth. 
Was  it  endangered  by  moral  laxity  ?  He  could  admin- 
ister the  necessary  rebuke.  Were  problems  of  moral 
conduct  and  social  relations  in  dispute?  He  could 
bring  to  bear  on  them  a  conscience  enlightened  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  If  we  consider,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
religious  superstition  and  moral  depravity  from  which 
many  of  the  members  of  these  churches  had  been 
delivered  at  their  conversion,  and,  on  the  other,  the 
spiritual  liberty  to  which  in  Christ  they  were  called,  we 
can  realise  how  hard  the  task,  and  heavy  the  trust, 
of  the  man  who  sought,  without  the  bondage  of  the 
letter  in  the  freedom  of  the  Spirit,  to  guide  and  guard 
their  steps  along  the  path  of  Christian  progress  in  truth 
and  grace.  Doubtless  there  were  other  labourers  in  the 
field  of  the  Lord,  living  bonds  between  the  Christian 
churches  ;  but  it  can  be  said  confidently  that  not  only 
did  Paul  conceive  the  ideal  of  the  Christian  Church 
more  clearly,  but  he  did  far  more  than  any  other 
to  make  that  ideal  a  reality.  As  he  thought  of  each 
local  congregation  as  a  body,  the  members  of  which 
had  varied  gifts  and  duties  corresponding  to  the  gifts, 
so  did  he  think  of  all  the  churches  as  one  body, 
through  frequent,  sympathetic,  and  helpful  intercourse 


PAUL   THE    BUILDER  77 

by  persons,   letters,    and   gifts,    nourishing    a   common 
life. 

(6)  The  Ideal  of  the  Church.  — In  the  Captivity 
Epistles^  when  he  was  a  prisoner  in  bonds,  because,  for 
the  reconciliation  of  Jew  and  Gentile,  he  had  risked 
even  life  itself  to  bring  the  offerings  of  the  Gentiles  to 
Jerusalem,  the  thought  of  the  Church  which  dominates 
him  is  that  of  a  society  in  which  the  antagonism  of 
Jew  and  Gentile  has  been  reconciled  in  the  reconciha- 
tion  of  both  to  God  (Eph.  ii.  11-22).  The  foundation 
is  the  apostles  and  the  prophets,  Christ  is  "the  chief 
corner  stone,  in  whom  each  several  building,  fitly  framed 
together,  groweth  into  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,  for  a 
habitation  of  God  in  the  Spirit."  If,  as  contemporary 
literature  enables  us  to  do,  we  realise  the  exclusiveness 
of  the  Jew  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  contempt  for  and 
aversion  to  him  felt  by  the  Gentiles  on  the  other  hand, 
we  shall  more  fully  recognise  the  greatness  of  the  man 
who,  himself  born  a  Jew,  trained  a  Pharisee,  could  rise  to 
so  large  and  lofty  a  conception  of  a  reconciled  humanity 
in  Christ.  It  is  the  conception  of  the  Church  in  these 
Epistles  which  influences  the  conception  of  Christ.  A 
society  in  which  all  the  old  enmities  of  man  and  man 
are   reconciled  in  one  "  access  in  one  Spirit  unto  the 


78     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

Father,"  cannot  be  less  or  other  than  the  goal  of  the 
Creation  itself;  and  He  in  whom  that  society  has  its 
Head,  of  whom  it  is  the  complement,  is  the  end  of 
God's  will  in  this  world  (i.  9,  10).  While  this  con- 
ception is  made  explicit  in  these  letters,  it  was  present 
and  effective  in  the  thought  and  feeling  of  Paul  in  all 
his  labours  and  sorrows. 

(7)  Worship,  Discipline,  and  Government  of  the 
Church. — In  regard  to  the  worship  of  the  Church,  Paul 
does  not  lay  down  any  hard  and  fast  rules.  He  assumes 
that  the  gifts  with  which  the  members  are  endowed 
will  be  exercised  by  them  in  the  public  assembly.  The 
principle  of  heavenly  wisdom  which  he  suggests  is  that 
all  shall  be  used  in  the  more  excellent  way  of  love. 
The  principle  of  earthly  prudence  he  lays  down  is,  *'  Let 
all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order"  (I.  Cor. 
xii.  31,  xiv.  40).  The  gifts  are  to  be  exercised,  not  to 
gratify  individual  vanity,  but  to  edify  the  whole  body. 
Accordingly,  prophecy  (inspired  instruction),  exhortation, 
reproof,  are  to  be  preferred  to  speaking  in  tongues 
(ecstatic  utterances),  as  the  former  can  be  understood  of 
all,  and  can  do  good  to  all,  while  the  latter  benefits 
only  one.  No  ritual  is  presented ;  no  officials  are  en- 
trusted with  control ;  the  liberty  of  the  Spirit  is  limited 


PAUL   THE   BUILDER  79 

only  by  the  claims  of  love.  He  assumes  that  the  Church 
will  exercise  discipline,  where  necessary,  on  its  mem- 
bers. Regarding  the  man  guilty  of  "fornication  as  is 
not  even  among  the  Gentiles,"  he  gives  his  decision 
with  authority.  The  Church,  gathered  together  with 
the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  is  to  "  deliver  such  a  one 
unto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the 
spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus " 
(L  Cor.  V.  3-5).  Paul  believed  that  the  solemn  con- 
demnation of  the  Church  would  be  divinely  ratified  by 
the  death  of  the  offender;  and  that  such  judgment 
would  be  more  merciful  to  his  soul  than  his  continuance, 
unpunished,  in  his  sin.  As  regards  the  man  who  has 
insulted  him,  and  for  whose  punishment  he  has  made 
a  demand  in  the  letter  sent  with  Titus,  he  pleads  for 
mercy,  now  his  authority  in  the  Church  has  been  re- 
estabHshed  (H.  Cor.  ii.  6-7).  Church  discipHne  is  not 
to  be  retributive  justice,  it  is  to  be  reformatory  solicitude. 
Paul  recognises  the  risk  of  zeal  for  purity  becoming 
loveless  severity,  an  advantage  gained  by  Satan  (ver.  11). 
The  Church  must  be  guarded  against  error  as  well  as 
sin.  In  his  speech  to  the  elders  of  Ephesus  he  foretold 
the  entering  into  the  church  of  grievous  wolves,  and  the 
arising  in  the  church  of  men  "  speaking  perverse  things," 


8o     LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

and  urged  them  "  to  feed  the  church  of  God  "  (Acts  xx. 
28-30).  They  are  to  admonish,  but  it  is  to  be  in 
tender  love,  even  as  he  admonished  "  with  tears " 
(ver.  31).  His  controversy  with  the  Judaisers  shows 
that  the  tolerance  of  error,  which  is  often  due  to  ignor- 
ance of  or  indifference  to  the  truth,  was  impossible  to 
him;  and  that  he  held  the  conviction  that  there  is  a 
truth  the  Church  must  maintain  and  defend  as  well  as 
commend. 

In  the  Pastoral  Epistles^  in  which  the  danger  foreseen 
was  already  present,  great  importance  is  attached  to  the 
fitness  of  the  officers  of  the  Church — bishops  or  elders 
and  deacons — for  their  task.  In  Christian  experience,  in 
moral  character,  in  family  relations,  in  social  reputation, 
each  must  be  fully  qualified  (I.  Tim.  iii.  1-13;  Titus  i. 
7-9).  In  the  church  of  Ephesus,  where  Timothy  was  set- 
ting things  in  order  when  the  first  letter  was  addressed  to 
him,  there  seems  to  have  been  an  order  of  widows,  who, 
supported  by  the  church,  were  expected  to  render  some 
service  to  the  church ;  and  great  care  in  the  selection 
of  these  is  insisted  on  by  Paul  (I.  Tim.  v.  3-16). 

Paul  maintained  the  right  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Church  to  support  (v.  17).  For  himself  he  made  the 
same   claim  (I.    Cor.   ix.    4-6).     The   arguments  with 


PAUL   THE    BUILDER  8i 

which  this  claim  is  enforced  may  not  all  appeal  to  us  as 
equally  relevant ;  but  Paul  does  make  out  a  case.  In 
practice,  however,  he  did  not  insist  on  his  rights.  In 
Thessalonia  he  worked  night  and  day  that  he  might  not 
be  a  burden  (I.  Thess.  ii.  9).  Of  the  church  in  Corinth 
he  seeks  pardon  for  not  being  a  burden  (II.  Cor.  xii.  13). 
In  Ephesus  he  worked  not  only  for  himself,  but  also  for 
his  companions,  and  he  commended  his  own  example  to 
the  elders  (Acts  xx.  33-35).  When  he  was  sure  that 
what  was  given  for  his  support  was  a  token  of  affection 
he  was  ready  to  receive  it  with  abounding  gratitude 
(Phil.  iv.  10-19).  H^  would  not  allow  the  support  of 
the  preachers  of  the  Gospel  to  be  a  hindrance  to  its 
spread.  To  disarm  suspicion  of  greed,  to  give  proof  of 
disinterestedness,  he  was  prepared  to  spend  himself  even 
in  hard  manual  toil. 

(8)  The  Sacraments  of  the  Church. — The  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  as  the  revelation  of  God  to  man  was  the 
essential  function  of  the  Church  for  Paul,  as  it  was  his 
personal  vocation.  The  Church  responded  to  the  divine 
approach  and  appeal  in  its  worship  of  praise  and 
prayer.  The  sacrifice  it  brought  was  the  personal  con- 
secration of  its  members  to  purity  and  service  (Rom.  xii.). 
The  surrender   of  his  own  life  he  represented  as  the 


82     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

pouring  out  of  the  drink-offering  which  accompanied 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Church's  service  (Phil.  ii.  17). 

But  besides  this  sacrifice  the  Church  had  two  ordi- 
nances, Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  significance 
of  which  for  Paul  we  must  be  careful  fully  to  recognise. 
In  one  passage  he  seems  to  speak  with  depreciation  of 
Baptism.  "  Christ"sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach 
the  Gospel'*  (I.  Cor.  i.  17).  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
refers  to  the  ordinance  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  it 
was  full  of  meaning  for  him.  Baptism  was  "into  the 
name  of  Christ"  {cf.  ver.  13,  Acts  xix.  5),  or  "into 
Christ "  (Rom.  vi.  3).  To  be  "  baptized  into  Christ " 
was  to  be  "baptized  into  his  death."  And  this  means 
such  a  union  of  the  believer  with  Christ  as  identifies 
his  with  Christ's  experience  in  all  essential  features 
(ver.  4).  In  this  the  believer  is  not  merely  passive, 
but  active  ;  he  wills  this  oneness  with  Christ.  He  "  puts 
on  Christ"  (Gal.  iii.  27).  To  put  on  Christ  is  to  die 
unto  sin,  and  to  live  unto  God  (Rom.  vi.  10- 11).  We 
need  not  suppose  that  Paul  thought  of  the  ordinance  itself 
as  mysteriously  or  magically  bringing  about  this  identi- 
fication, as  sacramentarians  do  ;  nor,  on  the  contrary, 
are  we  entitled  to  assume  that  for  Paul  the  experience  is 
altogether  independent  of  the  ordinance.     In  his  state- 


PAUL   THE    BUILDER  83 

ment  there  is  personal  remembrance.  It  was  when  he 
was  baptized  that  he  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
(Acts  ix.  17-19).  He  distinguished  the  baptism  to  re- 
pentance of  John  from  the  baptism  "into  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  required  the  twelve  men  in 
Ephesus  who  knew  the  former  to  receive  the  latter. 
When  they  were  baptized  "Paul  laid  his  hands  upon 
them,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  came  on  them  "  (xix.  1-7). 
We  may  explain  it  by  the  Oriental  love  of  symbolism 
if  we  will ;  but  it  is  certain  that  for  Paul,  as  for  the  whole 
Apostolic  Church,  baptism  was  not  merely  a  symbol,  but 
even  a  vehicle  of  divine  grace  separating  from  sin  and 
consecrating  unto  God.  The  probability  is  that  the 
subjectivism  of  evangelical  Protestantism  to-day  is  likely 
to  do  less  than  justice  to  the  objectivity  of  Paul's  think- 
ing. In  baptism  God  did  something  in  and  for  man's 
renewal.  That  this  change  was  not,  and  could  not  be, 
wrought  apart  from  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  faith  of  man  on  the  other,  Paul's 
work  and  teaching  fully  prove. 

Paul  alludes,  without  either  sanction  or  objection,  to 
one  custom — the  baptizing  of  the  living  on  behalf  of  (vircp) 
those  who  had  died  without  baptism  (I.  Cor.  xv.  29,  30) — 
which  does  involve,  if  it  was  really  meant  to  secure  for 


84     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

the  dead  their  union  with  Christ,  what  we  cannot  but 
consider  superstitious  belief  in  regard  to  the  efficacy 
of  the  ordinance.  Possibly,  however,  in  this  case  the 
ordinance  was  declaratory  of  the  faith  of  the  living  that 
their  dead  had  fallen  asleep  in  Christ,  even  although 
they  had  not  yet  submitted  to  the  ordinance  which 
expressed  this  union.  If  the  dead  were  altogether  without 
faith,  it  seems  incredible  that  any  saving  efficacy  on  their 
behalf  could  have  been  ascribed  to  this  ordinance  by  the 
Apostolic  Church ;  but  if  they  died  in  faith  without  the 
full  confession  of  faith  which  baptism  indicated,  we  can 
understand  how  the  belief  would  arise  that  the  process 
of  union  with  Christ  so  begun  could  be  completed  for 
them  by  this  vicarious  act.  We  cannot  say  confidently 
what  view  of  the  custom  Paul  held. 

That  Paul  regarded  the  form  of  baptism  as  a  significant 
representation  of  the  death,  the  burial,  and  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  and  that  therefore  immersion  is  more  ex- 
pressive of  the  meaning  of  the  ordinance  than  aspersion, 
is  a  view  which  is  not  warranted  by  his  words.  In  how- 
figurative  a  way  Paul  uses  the  symbol  is  borne  out  by 
I.  Cor.  X.  2  :  "  All  were  baptized  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud 
and  in  the  sea."  The  Christian  Church  grew  by  the 
admission  of  households  as  well  as  individuals  (Acts  xi. 


PAUL    THE    BUILDER  85 

14,  xvii.  5,  xvi.  ^;^,  xviii.  8).  We  have  no  evidence  that 
children  were  included  in  the  numbers  baptized,  nor  have 
we  proof  that  each  person  so  baptized  clearly  and  fully 
recognised  all  the  ordinance  signified.  The  faith  of  the 
head  of  the  household  doubtless  potently  influenced  all 
the  members,  although  in  many  cases  their  faith  must  have 
been  little  more  than  a  promise.  As  regards  the  children 
born  of  Christian  parents,  and  bred  in  Christian  homes, 
Paul  did  teach  that  they  are  "  holy  "  (ayia,  I.  Cor.  vii.  1 4). 
By  this  he  must  have  meant  at  least  that  they  were  set 
apart  for  God,  the  grace  of  God  being  mediated  to  them  by 
Christian  heredity  and  environment.  A  Christian  husband 
or  a  Christian  wife  can  in  the  same  way  sanctify — that  is, 
be  a  means  of  grace  to — a  heathen  partner.  Paul's  coun- 
sel to  Christian  fathers  (Eph.  vi.  4)  assumes  that  the 
children  were  in  a  relation  of  grace  to  Christ.  So  also 
his  counsel  to  children  takes  for  granted  that  their  desire 
is  to  please  Christ  (Col.  iii.  20).  He  recognises  that  the 
family  has  a  function  in  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and  that 
in  the  Christian  home  the  Christian  Church  exercises  its 
purifying  and  sanctifying  influence.  There  is  no  evidence, 
however,  that  this  led  him  to  face  the  question  whether 
the  ordinance  of  baptism  should  be  administered  in 
infancy  to  those  who,  by  their  heredity  and  environment 


86     LIFE    AND   TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

alike,  were  being  thus  influenced  by  and  attached  to 
Christ,  as  well  as  to  those  who  turned  from  sin  unto  God. 
In  I.  Cor.  xi.  23-25  we  have  the  earliest  account 
of  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  From  this 
it  is  clear  that  Paul  did  not  identify  the  bread  and 
the  wine  with  the  body  and  the  blood  of  Christ. 
The  form  of  words  even  forbids  the  conclusion.  The 
cup  is  not  said  to  be  the  blood  of  Christ,  but  "the 
new  covenant  in  His  blood."  Further,  this  is  done, 
not  to  partake  of  Christ,  but  "in  remembrance  of  Him," 
and  to  proclaim  His  death.  The  ordinance  is  com- 
memoration and  testimony.  But  in  this  remembrance 
and  declaration  Paul  does  hold  that  the  communicant 
does  enter  into  very  intimate  relation  with  Christ  Him- 
self (x.  16).  That  we  must  not  take  the  words  literally 
as  identifying  the  elements  with  Christ  is  shown  by 
the  use  of  the  same  imagery  to  express  the  unity  of 
believers  (ver.  17).  As  real  as  is  this  communion  with 
Christ,  so  real,  in  Paul's  belief,  is  the  communion  with 
devils  of  those  who  take  part  in  sacrifices  to  idols 
(ver.  21).  This  communion  with  Christ  is  also  com- 
munion with  fellow-believers;  for  they  in  Christ  are 
"  one  bread,  and  one  body."  To  partake  of  the  Supper, 
as  the   Church   in   Corinth  did,  each  man  caring   for 


PAUL   THE    BUILDER  87 

his  own  wants,  heedless  of  the  needs  of  others,  some 
gratifying  their  greed,  others  even  indulging  in  drunken- 
ness, was  to  do  dishonour  to  Christ,  to  be  "guilty  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord,"  to  fail  to  discern 
His  body  in  His  Church.  Paul  held  that  this  must 
bring  judgment;  and  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt 
that  in  xi.  30  he  intends  to  connect  disease  and  death 
in  the  Church  with  this  offence  as  the  divine  punish- 
ment on  it.  We  need  not  assume  that  Paul  was  so 
superstitious  as  to  hold  that  the  elements  themselves 
had  in  them  a  magical  efficacy;  nevertheless  his  view 
proves  how  great  was  the  sanctity  that  he  assigned  to 
the  ordinance,  when  its  unworthy  observance  might 
involve  so  serious  consequences.  It  may  be  added 
that  it  is  possible,  as  some  scholars  hold,  that  our 
interpretation  of  Paul's  view  of  the  sacraments  in- 
sensibly tends  to  modernise  them;  that,  trained  as 
he  had  been,  there  was  an  efficacy  for  him  in  sacra- 
ments such  as  it  is  difficult  for  us  now  to  conceive. 
There  may  have  been  an  element  of  what  we  to-day 
regard  as  superstition  in  his  belief;  but  on  the  whole 
it  is  better  for  us  to  credit  him  with  the  most  spiritual 
and  moral  view  that  the  words  he  uses  allow.  It  is 
not  likely  that  the  man  who  said  of  the  most  sacred 


88     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

rite  of  the  religion  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up, 
that  "in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth 
anything,  nor  uncircumcision  ;  but  faith  working  through 
love  "  (Gal.  v.  6) ;  who,  recognising  the  gifts  as  the  work- 
ing of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  yet  dared  to  show  the  more 
excellent  way  of  love  (I.  Cor.  xii.  31),  would  give  to 
any  outward  ordinance,  apart  from  its  moral  and  reli- 
gious influence,  any  significance  or  value.  The  sacra- 
ments for  Paul  had  importance  and  efficacy  only  as 
the  symbols,  and  probably  also  the  vehicles,  of  divine 
grace,  bringing  the  believer  into  closer  communion 
with  Christ,  and  so  serving  as  the  signs  and  seals 
of  the  unity  of  the  Christian  Church,  the  body  of 
Christ,  the  habitation  of  God's  Spirit,  the  tilled  land, 
the  building  of  God  (I.  Cor.  iii.  9). 


CHAPTER   V 

PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN 

In  dealing  with  Paul  the  theologian,  we  must  distinguish 
what  he  brought  with  him  from  his  Pharisaic  Judaism 
(Chapter  I.),  and  what  he  drew  from  his  own  Christian 
experience  (Chapter  H.);  also  the  changes  in  belief 
due  to  his  own  personal  development,  and  the  modi- 
fications in  the  statements  of  his  doctrine  due  to  the 
errors  against  which  he  was  contending,  or  to  the 
needs  of  the  converts  to  whom  he  was  writing.  Some 
interpreters  find  in  Paul  a  progress  in  theological  thought, 
and  arrange  his  Epistles  accordingly ;  but  the  writer 
does  not  share  this  opinion.  While  the  expression 
and  the  emphasis  of  his  beliefs  was  modified  from 
time  to  time,  he  had  thought  out  his  Gospel  soon  after 
his  conversion.  A  man  over  thirty  years  of  age,  as 
he  was  at  his  conversion,  who  had  passed  through  severe 
moral   struggles    and   deep    religious    experiences,   who 

had  at  his  command   the   intellectual  resources   of  a 

89 


90     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

learned  Jewish  scribe,  could  not  and  would  not  rest 
long  till  he  had  adjusted  his  theological  knowledge  to 
the  new  point  of  view.  The  account  of  his  experience 
in  Gal.  i.  11-17  shows  him  as  a  man  who  knew  him- 
self to  be  in  possession  of  his  distinctive  Gospel  from 
the  beginning  of  his  mission  among  the  Gentiles ;  and 
it  was  because  he  had  such  a  Gospel  to  preach  that  he 
felt  his  call  so  insistent.  To  take  one  instance,  we 
have  no  proof  that  Paul  abandoned  his  early  belief 
in  Christ's  Second  Coming,  although  he  wavered  in 
his  hope  of  living  till  that  time.  Paul's  confession  in 
Rom.  i.  16,  17  gives  us  the  standpoint  from  which  to 
treat  his  theology.  It  is  salvation  from  God  for  man 
about  which  he  is  concerned.  The  questions  we  must 
try  to  answer  are  :  Why  does  man  need  salvation  ? 
What  is  the  salvation  he  needs?  How  does  God 
bestow  it?  and  How  does  man  claim  it?  In  answer- 
ing these  we  shall  fully  state  Paul's  Gospel. 

I.  THE   NEED   OF   SALVATION 

What  Christ  did  for  Paul  was  to  save  him  from 
sin,  and  that  is  what  Paul  declared  Jew  and  Greek 
alike  needed.  But  we  may  think  of  sin  as  it  affects 
the  man  himself,  or  as  it  affects  his  relation  to  God. 


PAUL   THE  THEOLOGIAN  91 

For  the  moralist  the  first  point  of  view  is  more  im- 
portant ;  for  the  theologian  the  second ;  the  word  sin 
as  it  is  used  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  in  Christian 
theology  implies  this  reference  to  God.  Man  feels  in 
himself  sin's  power;  in  his  relation  to  God  he  feels 
sin's  guilt.  In  the  one  case  there  is  a  bondage  to  be 
broken ;  in  the  other  a  judgment  to  be  met,  a  penalty 
to  be  endured. 

(i)  The  Wrath  of  God. — Paul  believed  that  in  the 
conscience  of  mankind  there  was  a  witness  to  the  reality 
of  guilt.  Even  among  the  heathens  there  was  a  sense 
of  right  and  wrong,  a  fear  of  judgment,  a  self-accusing 
or  self-excusing  (Rom.  i.  28,  32,  ii.  14-16).  The  Jew's 
pride  in  the  law  was  the  condemnation  of  his  breaches 
of  the  law  (20-23).  He  held  that  there  was  a  revelation 
of  the  wrath  of  God  against  sin  (i.  18).  The  subjective 
sense  of  guilt  in  man  corresponded  to  the  objective  fact 
of  wrath  in  God.  As  all  sinful,  all  men  are  under  God's 
judgment  (iii.  19),  as  sinful  men  are  the  enemies  of 
God  (Rom.  V.  10,  xi,  28);  and  this  means  not  only  that 
men  oppose  themselves  to  God,  but  that  there  is  an 
antagonism  in  God  to  their  sins.  "The  sons  of  dis- 
obedience" are  necessarily  "children  of  wrath"  (Eph. 
ii.  2-3).      Human  disobedience  incurs,  and  cannot  but 


92     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF  PAUL 

incur,  divine  displeasure.  While  we  must  avoid  thinking 
of  the  wrath  of  God  as  a  passion,  such  as  it  is  in  man, 
we  must  take  care  not  to  empty  the  antagonism  of 
the  holiness  of  God  to  its  contradiction  and  opposi- 
tion of  all  personal  emotional  content.  God  feels  His 
condemnation  of  evil.  That  there  is  divine  judgment 
on  sin,  penalty  falling  on  the  guilty,  Jesus  Himself 
clearly  taught ;  and  this  is  confirmed  both  by  the  re- 
morse felt  by  the  sinner  and  by  the  consequences  which, 
as  human  history  shows,  ^  follow  transgression.  Paul's 
statement,  "Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap"  (Gal.  vi.  7),  in  which  the  modern  conception 
of  cause  and  effect  is  applied  to  the  relation  between 
actions  and  their  penalty  or  reward,  is  a  representation 
more  congenial  to  our  mood ;  but  Paul  does  not  here 
think  of  an  impersonal  process,  but  of  a  personal  action. 
"  God  is  not  mocked."  If  there  is  a  retributive  order  in 
man's  own  nature  and  in  human  society,  God  wills  it, 
and  He  wills  as  He  thinks  and  feels,  and  so  we  get 
back  to  God's  wrath  as  a  reality. 

(2)  The  Flesh. — As  regards  the  power  of  sin,  the 
classical  passage  for  Paul's  teaching  is  his  confession  of 
his  own  experience  in  Rom.  vii.  7-25.  Although  after 
his  conversion  he  was  still  tempted,  and  had  to  struggle 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN  93 

against  evil  (L  Cor.  ix.  27),  yet  it  was  before  his  con- 
version that  he  experienced  the  inward  division  and 
conflict  which  in  this  passage  he  so  vividly  describes. 
He  was  a  man  divided  against  himself,  and  in  conflict 
with  himself.  The  lower  self,  the  flesh,  the  sin  in  him, 
the  law  in  his  members,  withstood,  strove  against,  made 
helpless,  the  higher  self,  the  mind,  the  inward  man.  In 
modern  language,  conscience  and  reason  were  opposed 
by  appetite  and  passion.  Although  the  law  of  God 
was  approved,  it  was  not  obeyed.  Paul's  experience  is 
typical;  all  serious,  earnest  men  share  it  in  greater  or 
less  degree.  What  is  peculiar  in  his  statement,  and  re- 
quires some  explanation,  is  his  use  of  the  v^ord  flesh. 

It  is  urged  by  some  expositors  that  this  is  an  in- 
stance of  Greek  dualism,  that  Paul  thought  the  flesh 
as  material  substance  inherently  evil.  But  unless  the 
evidence  is  conclusive,  we  should  not  ascribe  to  Paul 
any  borrowing  from  Greek  thought,  if  an  idea  can  be 
explained  either  from  his  Rabbinic  training  or  his 
Christian  experience.  Now  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
term  flesh  is  used  of  man  as  a  creature,  especially  to 
emphasise  his  weakness  apart  from  the  Spirit  of  God 
conceived  as  power.  The  contrast  between  man  as 
flesh  and  God  as  Spirit  can  easily  pass  over  into  a  moral 


94     LIFE    AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

contradiction  between  man's  wilfulness  and  God's  law. 
Distinction  by  an  easy  transition  of  thought  becomes 
opposition.  Thus  Paul  uses  the  term  flesh  to  describe 
human  nature  in  so  far  as  that  nature,  disowning 
dependence  on  and  refusing  submission  to  God,  has 
become  "the  seat  and  the  vehicle  of  sin."  Paul  does 
not  think  of  sinful  acts  as  isolated  from  and  indepen- 
dent of  one  another,  but  as  the  expression  and  exercise 
of  a  nature  which  has  become  in  itself  sinful  (how, 
we  shall  afterwards  inquire).  The  temptations  from 
without  find  within  man  appetites,  passions,  desires, 
tempers,  ambitions,  that  readily  respond  to  them,  and 
strongly  reinforce  them.  As  a  serious  Pharisee,  and 
still  more  as  a  devout  Christian,  Paul  was  so  intensely 
conscious  of  this  indwelling  and  inworking  sin,  not 
as  occasional  but  as  permanent,  that  he  invested  the 
word  flesh  with  this  distinct  meaning  to  interpret  his 
experience.  There  are  several  positive  considerations 
against  the  view  that  Paul  regarded  the  flesh  as  material 
substance  necessarily  evil.  On  the  one  hand,  the  works 
of  the  flesh  include  "  idolatry,  sorcery,  enmities,  strife, 
jealousies,  wraths,  factions,  divisions,  heresies,  envy- 
ings,"  as  well  as  "fornication,  uncleanness,  lasciviousness, 
drunkenness,  and  revellings"  (Gal.  v.  19-21).     On  the 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN  95 

other  hand,  the  body  may  be  consecrated  unto  God 
(L  Thess.  V.  23;  Rom.  xii.  i  ;  II.  Cor.  vii.  i). 

(3)  Adam's  Transgression. — Paul's  view  of  the  flesh 
does  not^necessarily  involve  the  doctrines  of  original  sin 
and  total  depravity  as  these  have  been  commonly  under- 
stood in  evangelical  Protestantism.  It  is  quite  recon- 
cilable with  a  scientific  view  of  the  development  of  the 
individual  moral  life,  in  which  appetites  and  passions, 
contrary  to  conscience,  get  a  start  of  it,  and  so  have  a 
hold  before  conscience  seeks  through  the  will  to  exercise 
control.  In  what  Paul  says  about  the  guilt  and  the 
power  of  sin,  he  is  not  contradicting,  but  interpreting, 
human  experience,  even  as,  amid  changed  opinions,  it  is 
to-day.  But  the  same  claim  cannot  be  put  forward  for 
Paul's  view  of  the  origin  of  sin  in  the  human  race.  In 
the  second  chapter  it  was  shown  that  the  belief  in  the 
entrance  of  sin  and  its  penalty — death — into  the  world 
through  the  transgression  of  Adam  was  common  in  the 
Jewish  schools,  and  that  Paul  as  a  Pharisee  held  it 
before  his  conversion.  It  does  not  spring  out  of  his 
personal  experience,  or  belong  to  his  distinctive  Gospel. 
In  dealing  with  the  passage  in  which  he  states  it  (Rom. 
V.  12-21),  we  must  avoid  two  mistakes.  We  must  not 
suppose  that  Paul  left  unrelated  his  view  of  the  flesh  as 


96     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

the  seat  and  vehicle  of  sin,  and  his  belief  in  Adam's  fall. 
He  had  not  two,  but  only  one  explanation  of  the  begin- 
ning of  sin.  The  flesh  in  each  man  is  due  to  the  sin 
of  Adam.  The  tendency  to  sin  is  inherited.  But  we 
must  avoid,  on  the  other  hand,  the  assumption  that  the 
explanation  he  offers  of  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the 
world  is  the  reason  for  his  affirming  the  guilt  and  power 
of  sin.  He  knew  in  himself  both  the  guilt  and  power 
of  sin;  he  saw  both  in  men  around  him.  We  may 
reject  his  explanation  without  at  all  affecting  our  esti- 
mate of  his  Gospel.  It  is  important  to  note  the  place 
that  the  passage  has  in  the  argument.  Paul  has  already 
empirically,  by  an  appeal  to  facts,  proved  the  univer- 
sality of  sin  (iii.  19,  20).  He  is  not  seeking  even  to 
explain  the  origin  of  sin ;  that  is  not  necessary  to  his 
argument ;  and  he  could  take  the  belief  in  the  fall  for 
granted.  What  he  aims  at  proving  is  the  efficacy  of 
the  reconciUation  in  Christ  for  all  mankind;  and  the 
argument  is  this  :  if  the  sin  of  Adam  had  such  efficacy  as 
to  bring  sin  and  death  on  all  men,  much  more,  and  by  as 
much  more  as  Christ  is  greater  than  Adam,  will  the  grace  of 
Christ  have  efficacy  to  bring  righteousness  and  life  to  all. 
His  emphasis  is  on  the  disobedience  of  Adam  in  contrast 
with  the  obedience  of  Christ.     This  excludes  an  explana- 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN  97 

tion  which  has  sometimes  been  offered  of  the  other 
passage  in  which  a  contrast  is  also  made  between  Adam 
and  Christ  (I.  Cor.  xv.  45-47).  The  description  of 
Adam  as  living  soul  and  earthy  in  contrast  with  Christ 
as  life-giving  spirit  and  heavenly^  is  not  intended  to  be 
an  explanation  or  extenuation  of  his  offence,  as  though 
it  were  due  to  some  defect  of  nature  that  he  fell,  for 
Paul  desired  to  emphasise  to  the  full  his  freedom  and 
responsibility.  But,  further,  the  contrast  here  is  not 
between  Adam  before  his  fall  and  Christ,  but  between 
Adam  as  head  of  the  sinful,  dying  race,  and  Christ  as 
risen,  "  the  firstborn  among  many  brethren."  We  have 
no  ground  for  supposing  Paul  to  have  been  so  in 
advance  of  his  age  as  to  have  thought  of  the  primitive 
man  as  modern  anthropology  has  taught  us  to  think 
of  him.  Nor  are  we  entitled  to  assign  to  him  the  ex- 
travagances of  later  dogmatists,  who  regarded  Adam  as 
dowered  with  every  human  excellence.  Paul's  explana- 
tion leaves  the  problem  unsolved  for  us. 

In  this  passage  Paul  regards  death  as  the  penalty  of 
sin  ;  now  science  teaches  us  to  regard  death  as  a  natural 
necessity.  Even  as  physical  dissolution  Paul  would 
probably  have  explained  death  in  the  same  way ;  but  he 
is  thinking  of  death  as  more  than  physical  dissolution. 


98     LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

as  having  a  moral  and  religious  content.  He  thought 
of  death  as  ending  life's  moral  probation  and  ushering 
in  God's  judgment.  Here  science  has  no  contradiction 
to  offer.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  life  hereafter  the 
moral  consequences  of  this  life,  and  these  are  God's 
judgment,  will  be  experienced.  It  is  probable  that 
man  will  become  more  fully  conscious  of  his  relation  to 
God,  for  his  joy  or  to  his  shame.  The  dread  and  dark 
ness  with  which  a  guilty  conscience  may  invest  death 
is  a  consequence  of  sin.  So  far  we  may  recognise  the 
truth  of  Paul's  view. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  Paul  means  to  derive 
from  Adam's  sin  not  only  the  death  but  also  the  sin  of  all 
men ;  yet  by  a  change  in  the  striK^ture  of  one  of  his 
sentences  he  makes  his  meaning  doubtful.  "  So  death 
passed  unto  all  men,  for  that  all  sinned''''  (Rom.  v.  12). 
This  would  seem  to  make  the  death  of  each  man  the 
penalty  of  his  own  sin;  but  Paul  argues  expressly 
that  "  sin  is  not  imputed  when  there  is  no  law,"  and 
that  the  generations  until  Moses  "had  not  sinned  after 
the  likeness  of  Adam's  transgression"  (verses  13  and  14). 
It  is  as  related  to  Adam  that  all  are  said  to  have  sinned. 
It  is  held  by  some  theologians  that  it  was  as  included 
physically  in  Adam,  by  others  that  it  was  as  represented 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN  99 

morally  by  him,  that  the  race  may  be  said  to  have 
sinned  in  its  head.  The  more  probable  explanation 
is  that  Paul  thought  of  Adam's  sin  as  the  cause  of 
human  sinfulness ;  and  the  facts  of  heredity,  even  on  a 
moderate  estimate  of  the  influence  of  this  factor  in  human 
history,  do  give  support  to  the  view  that  descent  from 
a  sinful  race  does  affect  the  individual  life  adversely, 
although  Christian  theologians  on  these  themes  of  origi- 
nal sin  and  total  depravity  have  gone  much  farther  than 
the  facts  warrant. 

There  is  one  statement  of  Paul's  regarding  the 
sinfulness  of  the  heathen  world  which  at  once  seems 
to  challenge  contradiction,  that  is,  his  derivation  of 
the  moral  corruption  of  heathenism  from  its  idolatry 
(Rom.  i.  23,  24,  28).  He  describes  the  connection  as 
the  divine  punishment ;  but  this  is  his  Hebrew  mode  of 
speech.  Putting  it  in  our  ways  of  thought,  can  we  think 
of  moral  depravity  as  the  necessary  consequence  of 
idolatry  ?  We  cannot  regard  all  idolatry  as  a  deliberate 
choice  of  the  lower  course  in  religion  when  a  higher  was 
possible,  but  must  regard  it  as  a  stage  in  the  evolution 
of  rehgion.  Nevertheless,  the  evolution  need  not  be  re- 
garded as  always  progressive ;  it  was  sometimes  retarded, 
sometimes  misdirected  by  error  and  sin.     There  were 


loo     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF  PAUL 

forms  of  polytheism  morally  pernicious.  The  mytho- 
logy of  Greece  and  Rome  (Plato  and  Lucretius  being 
witnesses)  was  often  so  immoral  as  to  do  moral  injury. 
So  far  Paul  may  be  justified  in  his  view. 

II.  THE   NATURE   OF   SALVATION 

The  salvation  in  Christ  fully  meets  the  need  of  man  ; 
the  guilt  of  sin  \^r&c^ovQd,\i^  the  righteousness  o/God,  and 
the  power  of  sin  is  broken  by  the  sanctification  of  man. 
This  deliverance  involves  two  further  consequences,  as 
sinful  man  is  under  the  yoke  of  the  law,  and  the  fear  of 
death  ;  and  the  Christian  salvation  brings  the  end  of  the 
law,  and  the  victory  over  death.  The  Christian  salvation 
is  one  ;  for  the  forgiveness  of  sin  is  also  the  motive,  the 
promise,  and  the  power  of  holiness.  In  the  cancelling  of 
the  guilt  of  sin  there  is  also  the  breaking  of  its  power,  for 
a  distressed  conscience  means  an  impotent  will ;  and  a 
conscience  loosed  from  its  burden  means  a  will  freed 
from  its  bondage. 

(i)  The  Righteousness  of  God. — What  is  meant  by 
"  the  righteousness  of  God  "  in  which  the  guilt  of  sin  is 
removed?  Without  examining  any  of  the  definitions 
given  by  theologians,  let  us  try  to  gather  from  Paul's 
use   of  the   phrase   what   he   meant    by   it.     As  "the 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         loi 

righteousness  which  is  of  faith  "  it  is  contrasted  with 
"the  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law";  it  is  a  gift 
received,  not  a  payment  earned  (Rom.  x.  5,  6).  The 
Jews, "  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness,  and  seeking 
to  establish  their  own,  did  not  subject  themselves  to  the 
righteousness  of  God  "  (x.  3).  Man  does  not  achieve  it 
for  himself ;  he  accepts  it  in  submitting  himself  to  God. 
Paul  confesses  of  himself  "  not  having  a  righteousness  of 
mine  own,  even  that  which  is  of  the  law,  but  that  which  is 
through  faith  in  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God 
by  faith  "  (Phil.  iii.  9).  God  is  the  source  ;  Christ  is  the 
medium  ;  faith,  and  not  doing  the  works  of  the  law,  is  the 
condition  of  receiving  it  in  man.  According  to  Rom.  v. 
17,  the  source  is  "the  abundance  of  grace  "  in  God,  and 
the  end  "  eternal  life."  This  "  righteousness  of  God  "  is 
revealed  in  contrast  with,  and  for  the  removal  of,  the 
wrath  of  God.  It  is  grace,  conditioned  by  the  wrath 
of  God ;  saving  man,  not  in  contradiction  to,  but  in  con- 
formity with,  God's  judgment  on  sin.  While  it  is  a  gift, 
the  relation  which  God  Himself  establishes  with  mankind 
in  forgiving  sin,  it  must  not  be  disconnected  from  the 
Giver.  Righteousness  is  an  attribute  of  God  (Rom.  iii. 
5)  \  and  the  Old  Testament  so  far  anticipates  the  teaching 
of  the  New  as  to  represent  God's  salvation  of  the  people 


I02     LIFE    AND   TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

as  an  exercise  of  His  attribute  of  righteousness.  "  The 
Lord  hath  made  known  his  salvation,  his  righteousness 
hath  he  openly  showed  in  the  sight  of  the  nations  "  (Psalm 
xcviii.  2).  Not  in  spite  of  the  righteousness,  but  because 
of  it,  does  God  save.  The  moral  perfection  of  God 
cannot  but  seek  to  restore  man  to  moral  perfection. 

In  this  righteousness  there  is  a  judicial  and  even  penal 
element.  In  order  to  display  "  his  righteousness  at  this 
present  season,"  God  set  forth  Christ  "to  be  a  propitia- 
tion (or  propitiatory)  through  faith,  by  his  blood  "  (Rom. 
iii.  25).  The  reason  why  it  was  necessary  that  God's 
righteousness  should  be  so  revealed  was  twofold — (i) 
"  because  of  the  passing  over  of  the  sins  done  aforetime 
in  the  forbearance  of  God,"  and  (2)  "  that  he  might 
himself  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  that  hath  faith 
in  Jesus."  God  had  not  in  the  past  judged  and  punished 
sin,  as  it  deserved,  as  His  own  character  required  it  should 
be.  God  in  the  present  must  forgive  sin  in  such  a  way 
as  to  put  beyond  doubt  or  question  His  attitude  to  sin. 
Christ  in  His  Sacrifice  shows  God's  judgment  on,  punish- 
ment of  sin,  even  in  forgiving  the  sin  of  those  who  have 
faith  in  Him.  If  God's  generous  dealings  with  men 
had  left  any  ambiguity  about  God's  character  or  purpose, 
that  is  now  altogether  removed.     The  word  propitiatory 


PAUL    THE    THEOLOGIAN         103 

combines  the  grace  and  the  wrath  of  God.  We  must 
beware  of  pressing  the  word,  so  as  to  think  of  God 
as  propitiated  with  blood  as  the  gods  of  the  heathen 
were  sometimes  believed  to  be ;  but  we  do  not  do 
justice  to  Paul's  meaning  unless  we  understand  that 
the  judgment  or  punishment  of  sin  is  included  in  the 
redemption  from  sin  in  Christ. 

This  righteousness  of  God,  penal  or  judicial  as  well 
as  redemptive,  is  revealed  in  the  Cross,  which  was  the 
centre  of  Paul's  thought  (L  Cor.  i.  18,  ii.  2  ;  Gal.  vi.  14). 
He  connects  the  Cross  closely  with  man's  sin.  Christ 
"died  for  our  sins"  (L  Cor.  xv.  3).  He  "died  for 
all"  (H.  Cor.  v.  15).  He  "gave  himself  for  our  sins" 
(Gal.  i.  4).  He  was  sent  "y^r  sin  "  (R.V.,  as  an  offeri7ig 
for  sin,  Rom.  viii.  3).  He  "was  delivered  up  for  our 
trespasses"  (iv.  25).  God  "delivered  him  up  for  us 
all"  (viii.  32).  If  we  cannot  find  in  Paul  the  statement 
that  Christ  died  instead  of  us,  but  on  account  of  our  sins, 
or  on  behalf  of  us,  yet  he  does  think  of  Christ  as  taking 
our  lot  as  His  own.  He  was  sent  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh  (Rom.  viii.  3),  born  under  the  law  (Gal. 
iv.  4),  made  sin,  that  is,  treated  as  a  sinner  (II.  Cor. 
v.  21),  and  became  a  curse  (Gal.  iii.  13).  (These 
passages  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in   dealing  with 


I04     LIFE    AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

the  work  of  Christ.)  While  there  was  no  quantitative 
equivalence  between  what  He  suffered  and  what  we  as 
sinners  should  suffer,  while  we  may  not  regard  His  suffer- 
ing as  qualitatively  the  same,  for  the  sinless  cannot  be 
held  guilty,  repent,  or  be  punished  as  the  sinful,  yet 
Christ  took  on  Himself  by  a  voluntary  identification  of 
Himself  with  sinful  mankind,  not  by  any  legal  substitu- 
tion, all  the  consequences  of  sin,  which  for  the  sinful 
are  penal,  but  which  He  made  redemptive. 

If  we  ask,  What  purpose  did  Christ's  passion  serve  ? 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  Paul's  answer.  In  effecting 
man's  salvation,  Christ's  sacrifice  fulfilled,  and  more 
exceedingly  fulfilled,  the  same  end  in  God's  moral 
order  as  the  punishment  of  sinners  would  do.  This 
conclusion  may  be  justified  by  a  closer  examination  of 
three  words  used  by  Paul,  propitiation  or  propitiatory 
(Rom.  iii.  25),  redemption  (Col.  i.  14;  I.  Cor.  i.  30),  re- 
conciliation (Rom.  v.  10,  11;  11.  Cor.  v.  18-20).  As 
regards  the  first  of  these  terms,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  Greek  word  is  a  noun  or  an  adjective ;  but  it  is 
more  probably  the  latter.  An  allusion  to  the  lid  of 
the  ark,  as  some  scholars  suppose,  would  have  been  too 
obscure;  a  reference  to  the  sacrificial  victim,  even  a 
human  sacrifice,  such  as  paganism  was  familiar  with,  is 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN        105 

not  impossible ;  but  this  does  not  help  our  interpreta- 
tion. The  widest  sense,  such  as  the  adjective  allows, 
is  to  be  preferred.  It  has  already  been  indicated  that 
the  word  implies  a  judicial  or  penal  as  well  as  a  redemp- 
tive element  in  God's  righteousness.  If  we  press  the 
question,  how  does  Christ's  passion  reveal  this  element, 
God's  judgment  or  punishment  on  sin,  as  well  as  His 
grace  in  forgiveness  ?  Paul  gives  us  no  distinct  answer. 
He  was  sure  sin  ought  to  be  punished ;  he  was  sure 
that  in  Christ  sin  is  forgiven ;  the  punishment  must  be 
included  in  the  forgiveness  of  sin  in  Christ.  The  effi- 
cacy of  the  Cross  for  God  and  man  alike  lies  in  the 
obedience  of  Christ,  which  has  a  value  greater  far  than 
is  necessary  to  compensate  for  the  sin  of  Adam  and  the 
race.  "  Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  abound  more 
exceedingly"  (v.  20).  His  obedience  was  shown  in 
His  acceptance  of  all  the  consequences  of  sin.  In  this 
obedience  in  accepting  the  consequences  of  sin  Christ 
approved,  and  asserted  God's  moral  order  in  the  world, 
which  expresses  His  moral  perfection,  more  fully  and 
clearly  than  all  the  penalties  mankind  might  endure. 
May  we  add  that  it  does  belong  to  moral  perfection  to 
assert  itself  in  opposition  to  moral  evil,  and  to  demon- 
strate its  inherent  character  in  that  opposition  ? 


io6     LIFE    AND    TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

What  further  light  does  Paul's  use  of  the  word  redemp- 
tion give  us  ?  In  Col.  i.  14  it  is  explained  as  "  the  for- 
giveness of  our  sins."  Redemption  in  I.  Cor.  i.  30  seems 
to  combine  the  idea  of  "  righteousness  and  sanctification." 
Christ  redeems  from  "the  law"  (Gal,  iv.  4),  and  from 
"the  curse  of  the  law"  (iii.  13).  The  idea  of  a  ransom 
is  implied,  as  I.  Cor.  vi.  20,  vii.  23  shows.  "Ye  were 
bought  with  a  price."  The  word  itself  is  used  in  I.  Tim. 
ii.  6.  An  idea  which  is  prominent  in  this  connection 
must  be  noticed.  What  Christ  thus  bought  belongs  to 
Him  (Titus  ii.  14).  To  whom  the  ransom  was  paid 
Paul  does  not  ask.  He  would  never  have  answered,  as 
one  of  the  earliest  theories  of  the  Atonement  did,  to 
the  devil.  If  on  the  Cross  God  sets  forth  Christ  as  pro- 
pitiatory, then  we  may  infer  that  somehow  Paul  would 
have  thought  of  the  ransom  as  rendered  to  God. 

The  reconciliation  between  God  and  man  is  for  Paul 
mutual ;  the  enmity  of  God  to  man,  the  wrath  of  God 
revealed  against  sin,  is  removed,  as  well  as  man's  estrange- 
ment from  God  ended  (Rom.  v.  10,  11).  Because  God 
in  Christ  is  reconciled,  men  are  to  become  reconciled  to 
God  (II.  Cor.  V.  18-20).  God's  grace  claims  man's  faith, 
so  that  the  loving  fellowship  of  God  and  man  may  be 
restored. 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN        107 

We  can  now  briefly  answer  a  question  which  has  been 
much  debated.  Does  justification  mean  reckoning  righ- 
teous or  making  righteous  ?  Scholars  are  agreed  that  the 
word  means  reckoning  righteous.  In  Rom.  iv.  5  this 
sense  is  clearly  stated :  "  But  to  him  that  worketh  not, 
but  believeth  on  him  that  justifieth  the  ungodly,  his  faith 
is  reckoned  for  righteousness."  His  teaching  is  this  : 
God  reckons  as  righteous,  that  is,  treats  as  righteous, 
the  ungodly  (by  His  forgiveness  he  welcomes  them  to 
loving  fellowship  with  Himself),  because  He  counts  as 
their  righteousness  their  faith  in  Christ,  especially  His 
propitiatory  death.  But  we  cannot  stop  there  without 
opening  the  door  to  many  misconceptions.  The  way  in 
which  God  reckons  righteous  also  makes  righteous.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  object  of  faith,  Christ  in  His  death, 
so  condemns  sin  and  commends  holiness,  that  personal 
relation  to  Him  cannot  but  issue  in  repentance  and 
consecration,  renunciation  of  evil  and  dedication  to  God. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  faith  which  is  a  personal  relation 
to  Christ  becomes  an  ever  closer  union  with  Him, 
so  that  the  believer  is  crucified  and  risen  with  Him, 
dies  unto  sin,  and  lives  unto  God.  It  is  only  if  we 
forget  the  object  and  the  nature  of  faith  that  the  possi- 
bility of  a  reckoning  righteous  which  does  not  necessarily 


io8     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

issue  in  a  making  righteous  can  be  conceived.  What  is 
important  in  the  distinction  for  which  theologians  have 
so  warmly  contended  is  this.  God  in  free  grace  forgives 
men,  not  because  they  are  good,  or  even  because  they 
will  become  good,  but  that  He  may  make  them  good. 
Men  do  not  earn  their  relationship  to  God  in  Christ ; 
He  bestows  it,  and  in  bestowing  it  He  makes  them 
worthy  of  it,  as  they  never  could  make  themselves. 
Forgiveness  is  the  motive  of  holiness ;  justification  leads 
on  to  sanctification. 

(2)  The  Sanctification  of  Man. — The  forgiveness  of 
sin  brings  with  it  the  assurance  of  deliverance  from  sin. 
He  who  knows  himself  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death 
of  His  Son  is  sure  that  He  will  be  saved  by  His  life 
(Rom.  v.  10).  The  sense  of  sonship  (Gal.  iii.  26,  iv.  6) 
removes  the  feeling  of  helplessness  and  hopelessness 
which  sin  brings  (Rom.  vii.  24).  This  relief  of  con- 
science means  recovery  of  will.  But  the  way  in  which 
the  forgiveness  has  come — the  grace  of  Christ  in  His 
Cross — brings  into  the  life  a  new  motive.  As  has  already 
been  mentioned,  the  redeemed  are  bought  with  a  price 
to  be  the  possession  of  Him  who  gave  Himself  a  ran- 
som for  them.  This  argument  is  most  fully  stated  in 
n.   Cor.  v.   14-15:  "The  love  of  Christ  constraineth 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN        109 

us ;  because  we  thus  judge,  that  one  died  for  all,  there- 
fore all  died  ;  and  he  died  for  all,  that  they  which  live 
should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him 
who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again."  This  does 
not  mean  bondage  to  a  new  law,  but  the  freedom  of 
service  inspired  by  love,  gratitude  for  grace.  This  new 
motive  proved  its  efficacy  in  Paul,  and  is  efficient  wher- 
ever the  grace  is  truly  experienced  and  the  gratitude  is 
fully  rendered. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  distinctive  feature  of  Paul's 
experiences.  Not  his  thankfulness  only  for  what  Christ 
had  done  for  him  made  him  a  new  man ;  but  his 
abiding  fellowship  with  the  living  Saviour  and  Lord. 
He  not  only  says  "  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  me,'^ 
but  also  "  Christ  liveth  in  me  "  (Gal.  ii.  20),  and  what 
he  claims  for  himself  he  takes  for  granted  in  all 
believers.  He  assumes  that  no  baptized  believer  can 
continue  in  sin  that  grace  may  abound,  "because  all 
were  buried  with  him  through  baptism  unto  death,"  so 
that  they  "  should  be  dead  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God 
in  Christ  Jesus"  (Rom.  vi.  i-ii).  This  personal  union 
with  Christ  involves  the  constant  exercise  of  Christ's 
personal  influence  on  the  believer,  so  that  he  comes  to 
be  more  and  more  conformed  to  Christ,  crucified  to- 


no     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

sin  and  risen  to  God  with  Him.  As  for  Paul,  it  was  not 
the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  which  was  of  primary  signifi- 
cance and  value  (we  may  say  this  without  maintaining 
that  he  was  either  ignorant  of  or  indifferent  to  the  facts 
of  that  life),  but  the  death  and  rising  again  (I.  Cor. 
XV.  3,  4),  so  the  content  of  his  communion  with  Christ 
is  the  Crucifixion  and  Resurrection.  The  meaning 
these  events  had  was  this.  As  Christ  had  so  identified 
Himself  with  sinners  as  to  suffer  on  His  Cross  the 
consequences  of  their  sin,  thus  must  believers  so  identify 
themselves  with  Christ  as  to  feel  toward  sin  as  He  did, 
to  condemn  and  execute  it  in  themselves.  As  Christ 
had  risen  from  the  dead  to  live  henceforth  to  God,  so 
must  believers  living  one  life  with  Him  "  walk  in  new- 
ness of  life  unto  God."  Man  makes  his  own  by  an 
appropriating  affection,  by  an  identifying  submission, 
both  Christ's  condemnation  of  sin  and  consecration 
to  God.  It  is  faith,  receptive  and  responsive,  to  what 
Christ  has  done  and  now  is,  to  His  grace,  that  con- 
forms the  believer  to  Christ. 

What  appears  at  first  sight  an  alternative  explanation 
of  man's  sanctification,  but  on  closer  scrutiny  is  but  a 
complementary,  is  found.  Sanctification  is  ascribed  to 
the  Spirit  (II.  Thess.  ii.  13).     All  the  graces  and  virtues 


PAUL    THE    THEOLOGIAN         iii 

of  the  Christian  life  are  "  fruits  of  the  Spirit "  (Gal.  v. 
19-23).  The  Christian  walks,  and  is  led,  because  he 
lives  by  the  Spirit  (v.  16,  18,  25),  and  this  is  the  same  as 
being  "  of  Christ  Jesus  "  and  having  "crucified  the  flesh 
with  the  passions  and  the  lusts  thereof."  For  the 
Spirit  is  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  having  the  Spirit  is  the 
test  of  being  Christ's  (Rom.  viii.  9).  If  in  one  passage 
Paul  appears  to  identify  the  Lord  and  the  Spirit 
(XL  Cor.  iii.  17,  18),  yet  he  generally  clearly  dis- 
tinguishes the  one  from  the  other  (11.  Cor.  xiii.  14 ; 
I.  Cor.  xii.  4-6  ;  Eph.  iv.  4-6).  The  work  of  Christ 
and  of  the  Spirit  is  one  work,  however ;  and  the  two 
ways  of  describing  that  one  work  may  perhaps  be 
thus  explained.  When  Paul  was  fully  conscious  of 
a  personal  presence  and  a  personal  communion,  he 
thought  and  spoke  of  the  Lord ;  when  this  conscious- 
ness was  less  distinct,  and  yet  he  knew  that  whatever 
was  good  in  him  he  owed  to  God,  he  thought  and 
spoke  of  the  Spirit. 

(3)  The  End  of  the  Law. — The  righteousness  of  God 
by  faith  is  opposed  by  Paul  to  the  righteousness  by  the 
works  of  the  law.  As  a  Pharisee  he  had  sought  the 
latter ;  as  a  Christian  he  found  the  former.  His  vain 
pursuit  of  the  one  had  hindered  his  ready  acceptance  of 


112     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

the  other.  In  his  own  experience  there  was  an  oppo- 
sition of  grace  and  law,  faith  and  works.  A  peril 
threatening  the  Church  compelled  him  to  assert  and  to 
prove  that  Christ  was  the  end  of  the  law,  that  grace 
superseded  works.  In  Antioch  and  in  the  churches  in 
Syria  and  Cilicia  the  attempt  was  made  to  impose  the 
law,  especially  circumcision,  as  a  condition  of  salvation 
on  the  Gentiles  (Acts  xv.  i).  Although  the  Church 
in  Jerusalem  granted  the  freedom  of  the  Gentiles,  yet 
the  Judaisers  busied  themselves  in  Galatia,  Philippi, 
Corinth,  even  Rome  itself ;  and  it  was  necessary  for  Paul 
to  make  clear  the  abolition  of  the  Law  by  the  Gospel. 

Concerned  with  this  concrete  issue,  Paul  has  the 
Mosaic  Law  in  view  even  when  he  is  dealing  with  the 
law  generally ;  but  his  contention  applies  to  law  in  the 
wider  as  well  as  in  the  narrower  sense.  It  is  the  Jewish 
law  he  is  thinking  of  when  he  speaks  of  the  Gentiles  as 
having  no  law  (Rom.  ii.  14),  or  of  the  non-imputation 
of  sin  in  the  absence  of  law  (v.  1 3),  or  of  the  result  of 
the  law  in  his  own  experience  (vii.  7).  He  recognises  a 
moral  law  among  the  Gentiles  (ii.  15).  While  what  was 
immediately  in  dispute  was  part  of  the  ceremonial  law, 
yet  Paul  in  his  treatment  no  more  distinguishes  moral 
from  ceremonial  law  than  the  Mosaic  from  any  other  law. 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN        113 

It  is  law  as  law  that  is  superseded  by  Christ.  Christian 
morality  is  not  legal,  but  something  far  better. 

As  a  Christian  he  kept  his  reverence  for  the  law; 
even  when  he  is  proving  that  it  has  no  longer  any  claim 
on  the  Christian,  he  recognises  its  divine  origin  and 
authority.  As  it  comes  from  God,  it  is  "  spiritual,"  and 
all  its  demands  are  "  holy,  just,  and  good  "  (Rom.  vii. 
12-14).  He  warmly  rejects  the  inference  from  his 
argument  that  the  law  is  sin  (ver.  7),  and  maintains  that 
faith  does  not  make  the  law  of  none  effect,  but  estab- 
lishes it  (iii.  31).  The  law  is  not  against  the  promises 
of  God  (Gal.  iii.  21).  Nevertheless  his  Pharisaic  bond- 
age to  the  law  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  delight 
in  the  law,  as  some  of  the  psalmists  did,  or  to  recog- 
nise fully  its  providential  purpose  in  the  history  of  the 
Hebrew  nation,  as  we  can  to-day. 

The  place  of  the  law  is  between  the  promise  and  its 
fulfilment ;  and  it  was  given  "  because  of  transgressions," 
that  is,  either  to  restrain  them  or  to  provoke  them. 
That  the  historical  function  was  the  former,  who  can 
doubt?  That  the  result  was  the  latter,  Paul  not  only 
held  but  also  that  it  was  a  result  intended,  as  God 
desired  that  all  things  might  be  shut  up  under  sin  when 
the  promise  was  fulfilled  (Gal.  iii.  19-22).     "The  law 


114     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

came  in  beside"  (Rom.  v.  20)  as  an  afterthought;  it 
was  a  temporary  and  provisional,  not  permanent  and 
final,  revelation  of  God. 

The  promise,  which  is  superior  to  the  law,  was  given 
to  Abraham,  not  for  works  of  the  law,  but  because  his 
faith  was  reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness  (Gal.  iii. 
5-8) ;  it  was  given  when  he  was  still  in  uncircumcision 
(Rom.  iv.).  This  promise  "  the  law  which  came  four 
hundred  and  thirty  years  after"  (Gal.  iii.  17)  could  not 
annul.  However  Rabbinic  this  argument  is  in  form, 
its  essential  idea  is  that  the  legal  relation  between  God 
and  man  is  not  so  essential  and  permanent  as  that  of 
grace.  God  is  Father  by  His  nature  rather  than  Law- 
giver and  Judge. 

Between  the  legal  relation  and  the  gracious  there 
was  for  Paul  a  necessary  opposition.  *'If  righteous- 
ness is  through  the  law,  then  Christ  died  for  nought " 
(Gal.  ii.  21).  To  choose  the  one  way  is  to  turn  from 
the  other.  Those  who  seek  justification  by  the  law  are 
"severed  from  Christ,  fallen  away  from  grace"  (v.  4). 
Because  Paul  had  found  Christ  sufficient  for  holiness 
as  well  as  forgiveness,  he  could  not  tolerate  the  authority 
of  the  law  beside  that  of  Christ. 

But   the  law  had  proved  itself  ineffective   both  for 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN        115 

forgiveness  and  holiness.  While  the  law  brings  "the 
knowledge  of  sin"  (Rom.  iii.  20),  makes  wrong  known 
as  such,  it  has  no  power  to  restrain,  but  rather  provokes 
sin,  for  the  commandment  is  like  a  challenge  which  sin 
is  ever  ready  to  accept  (vii.  8,  9).  This  result  shows 
the  internal  opposition  of  the  law  and  sin ;  it  exposes 
sin  in  its  real  character  (ver.  13).  The  reason  why  this 
aggravation  of  sin  is  necessary  is  that  a  man,  by  dis- 
covering fully  his  need,  may  be  ready  to  welcome  the 
saving  grace  of  God.  "  God  hath  shut  up  all  unto 
disobedience  that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all " 
(Rom.  xi.  32).  The  cause  of  this  moral  impotence  of 
the  law  is  that  it  is  outer  command  and  not  inner 
constraint,  letter  and  not  spirit  (H.  Cor.  iii.  3-6).  The 
religious  condition  of  the  Jews  showed  that  it  could 
not  secure  the  obedience  even  of  those  who  most 
boasted  its  possession  (Rom.  ii.  23,  28,  29).  The 
flesh  was  too  strong  an  antagonist  for  the  law  to  over- 
come ;  that  was  possible  only  to  the  grace  of  God  in 
Christ  (viii.  3-4). 

There  is  much  in  this  argument  due  on  the  one  hand 
to  Paul's  peculiar  experience  in  trying  to  keep  the  law 
as  a  Pharisee,  and  on  the  other  to  the  special  contention 
of  the  Judaisers;    and   all   this  must  appear  to  us  as 


ii6     LIFE    AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

remote  from  our  moral  life.  But  there  is  here  an  inter- 
pretation of  moral  facts.  When  conscience  awakens  in 
the  child,  some  of  his  wishes  and  acts  are  first  recog- 
nised as  wrong.  Restraint  does  often  provoke  rebeUion, 
unless  there  be  adequate  motive  for  obedience.  A  man 
is  sometimes  brought  to  a  sense  of  his  moral  corruption 
by  a  fall  into  some  gross  form  of  sin  ;  and  self-discovery 
is  the  first  step  to  self-recovery.  Generally  law  does 
not  come  without  some  motive  to  obedience  in  addition 
to  its  rewards  and  punishments ;  and  we  must  admit 
Paul's  point  of  view  is  here  altogether  too  abstract. 

What  the  law  had  done  was  to  make  the  transgres- 
sor so  miserable  as  to  make  him  desire  deliverance 
(Rom.  vii.  24),  and  to  make  him  despair  of  finding  that 
deliverance  in  the  law  (Gal.  ii.  19).  Paul  here  con- 
fidently generalises  his  own  experience;  but  had  the 
Galatians  indeed  found  "  the  law  hath  been  our  tutor  to 
bring  us  unto  Christ "  (iii.  24)  ?  May  not  legal  discipline 
at  a  particular  stage  of  moral  development  be  necessary 
as  a  preparation  for  evangelical  freedom  ?  This  never 
presented  itself  as  a  possibility  to  Paul.  As  a  son  of 
God,  baptized  unto  Christ  (Gal.  iii.  26,  27),  crucified  and 
risen  with  Christ  (ii.  20),  he  was  dead  to  the  law,  as 
were  all  Christians  (Rom.  vii.  4).     This  death  to  the 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN        117 

law  was  not  moral  licence,  because  in  Christ  the  be- 
liever is  first  dead  to  sin.  In  his  freedom  he  is  under 
law  to  Christ  (I.  Cor.  ix.  21),  and  as  substituting  this 
inward  and  effective  authority  and  influence,  making 
holy,  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law "  (Rom.  x.  4),  for 
He  accomplishes  the  moral  deliverance  from  the  flesh 
which  the  law  had  failed  to  secure  (Rom.  viii.  3).  This 
is  not  libertinism,  but  liberation.  Paul  was  absolutely 
right  in  claiming  the  freedom  of  the  Gentiles  from 
the  ceremonial  law  of  Judaism  (Col.  ii.  16).  Al- 
though in  his  polemic  he  may  appear  to  be  refusing 
the  moral  guidance  the  law  could  give  to  the  individual 
conscience  of  the  Gentile  converts,  really  he  does  not. 
All  standards  of  conduct  that  are  good,  true,  worthy, 
Paul  commends  (Phil.  iv.  8).  His  own  letters  are  full 
of  such  moral  guidance,  and  it  is  certain  most  of  the 
churches  were  in  such  moral  immaturity  that  without 
such  guidance  the  liberty  in  the  Spirit  would  have  proved 
a  danger.  The  absolute  liberty  Paul  in  his  polemic 
claims  is  possible  only  to  those  who  have  made  as 
absolute  submission  to  Christ,  as  Paul  assumes  that 
the  confession  of  Christ  in  baptism  involved.  Till 
such  maturity  is  reached,  the  counsel  and  even 
command  of  those  more  advanced  in  the  Christian  life 


ii8     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

will  be  not  an  infringement,  but  a  protection  of  liberty  in 
Christ,  "  the  end  of  the  law." 

(4)  The  Victory  over  Death. — This  element  in  the 
Christian  salvation  is  much  less  prominent  in  Christian 
thought  to-day  than  it  was  in  the  mind  of  Paul.  The 
Christian  view  of  death  is  commonly  taken  for  granted, 
without  a  distinct  recognition  of  its  source  in  the  grace 
of  Christ.  For  Paul,  and  for  the  apostolic  age  generally, 
death  was  still  too  much  of  a  darkness  and  a  dread  for 
the  great  debt  to  Christ,  in  bringing  immortality  and  life 
to  light  in  His  Gospel,  to  be  forgotten.  Paul  clothes  this 
hope,  as  did  all  Christians  of  his  age,  in  the  eschatological 
beliefs  of  contemporary  Judaism.  Paul  himself  shrank 
from  death  (II.  Cor.  v.  1-4),  and  regarded  it  as  the 
penalty  of  sin  (Rom.  v.  12),  as  its  wages  (vi.  23),  or  its 
harvest  (Gal.  vi.  7,  8).  The  deliverance  he  desired  and 
hoped  for  was  by  resurrection — that  is,  the  restoration 
of  his  whole  personality,  body,  soul,  and  spirit;  for  he 
was  a  Hebrew,  who  regarded  man  as  a  living  soul 
because  God  had  breathed  into  the  dust  His  spirit, 
and  not  a  Greek,  who  thought  of  the  body  as  the  prison 
of  the  soul,  and  immortality  as  the  soul's  release  from 
bondage. 

Regarding   the    Resurrection    two    questions    arise: 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         119 

when  and  what  it  would  be.  According  to  the  common 
belief  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  shared  by  Paul,  the 
Resurrection  would  at  once  follow  the  Second  Advent, 
which  was  eagerly  and  almost  instantly  expected  (I. 
Thess.  V.  2).  When  some  believers  in  Thessalonica 
died,  Paul  had  to  comfort  their  mourning  friends  with 
the  assurance  that  the  dead  would  not  be  at  a  disad- 
vantage as  compared  with  the  living  (iv.  15-17).  He 
himself  expected  to  be  alive  (L  Cor.  xv.  51,  52)  and 
to  undergo  the  necessary  change.  Although  he  gave  up 
this  hope  of  survival  (H.  Cor.  v.  6-8;  Phil.  i.  21-24), 
yet  to  the  end  the  belief  in  the  speedy  Second  Coming 
remained  (Col.  iii.  4 ;  Phil.  iv.  5).  It  was  qualified  by 
the  recognition  that  a  certain  historical  process  must 
be  previously  completed.  According  to  the  "  Pauline 
Apocalypse"  (II.  Thess.  ii.  1-12),  the  full  manifestation 
of  the  godlessness  and  wickedness  of  Judaism  is  being 
delayed  by  the  restraint  imposed  by  the  Roman  Empire ; 
but  at  last  "  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition,"  pro- 
bably a  false  Messiah,  will  appear,  only  to  be  destroyed 
by  the  true  Messiah.  This  is  an  interpretation  of  con- 
temporary events ;  Judaism  was  the  persecutor,  the 
Roman  Empire  the  protector  of  the  Christian  Church ', 
we  need  not  look  for  a  literal  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy. 


I20     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

We  may  think  that  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  was  the  judg- 
ment of  Judaism,  or  we  may  admit  that  "  the  mills  of 
God  grind  more  slowly"  than  Paul  expected,  and  that 
Christ's  triumph  over  all  opposition  is  not  yet.  That  it 
will  come  is  the  essential  Christian  hope. 

As  regards  the  nature  of  the  Resurrection,  Paul  does 
not  teach  the  identity  of  the  two  bodies,  but  their 
contrast  (I.  Cor.  xv.  42-44);  they  are  related  as  crop 
and  seed.  God  gives  the  new  body  as  it  pleases  Him 
(ver.  38) ;  it  is  not  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood  (ver.  50) ; 
the  living  must  be  changed  (ver.  52).  Personal  identity 
does  not  depend  on  the  sameness  of  the  body.  In  this 
speculation  we  need  not  assert  Paul's  infallibility  ;  what 
belongs  to  Christian  faith  is  that  through  death  we  enter 
on  fuller  life. 

As  some  Christians  died  before  the  Second  Advent, 
we  should  have  expected  Paul  to  face  the  question  as  to 
their  condition  until  the  Resurrection.  He  describes 
death  as  a  sleep  (I.  Thess.  iv.  14;  I.  Cor.  xv.  6,  18,  20), 
but  this  figurative  language  justifies  no  theory  of  un- 
consciousness or  semi-consciousness.  When  Paul  was 
looking  for  his  own  death,  he  hoped  for  an  immediate 
entrance  on  a  better  life  with  Christ  (II.  Cor.  v.  6-8 ; 
Phil.  i.  23).     As  at  the  Resurrection  he  expected  the 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN        121 

vision  of  and  communion  with  Christ  to  bring  about 
a  transformation  into  His  likeness  (L  Cor.  xv.  49 ; 
Phil.  iii.  21 ;  IL  Cor.  iii.  18),  so,  had  he  thought  out  the 
question,  he  might  perhaps  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  saints  who  at  death  are  with  Christ  are  already 
risen  with  Him.  He,  however,  left  the  question  un- 
answered. Such  is  the  answer  Christian  faith  to-day 
might  give. 

After  the  Resurrection  would  come  the  judgment  of 
all  men  by  Christ  (IL  Cor.  v.  9-10;  Rom.  xiv.  10). 
This  is  vividly  described  in  the  figure  of  buildings  set  on 
fire,  in  which  wood,  hay,  stubble  are  consumed,  but 
gold,  silver,  precious  stones  are  preserved  (I.  Cor.  iii. 
12-15).  Another  image  used  is  that  of  sowing  and 
reaping  (Gal.  vi.  7,  8).  These  two  images  would  suggest 
that  the  results  of  sin  are  God's  judgment  on  it.  Carry- 
ing this  thought  further,  as  Paul  himself  did  not,  we 
may  set  aside  the  pictural  representation  of  a  judgment- 
day,  and  regard  the  future  life,  in  which  the  consequences 
of  this  life  are  realised,  as  God's  judgment  of  approval 
or  condemnation.  This  would  also  rid  us  of  a  contra- 
diction in  Paul's  teaching.  If  men  are  justified  now  by 
faith,  how  are  they  afterwards  to  be  judged  by  works  ? 
What  men  will  reap  hereafter  is  the  harvest  in  their 


122     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

lives  of  their  faith  or  their  unbelief.  What  seems  to 
remain  to  us  of  this  eschatological  teaching  of  Paul,  in 
which  he  was  very  largely  indebted  to  Jewish  Apocalyptic 
literature,  as  of  permanent  validity  for  Christian  thought, 
is  that  on  the  one  hand,  as  regards  the  individual,  there 
is  continuity  of  character  and  dispositions  between  this 
life  and  the  life  hereafter,  that  the  condition  of  the 
future  life  will  be  determined  by  our  relation  to  Christ, 
and  that  it  will  be  our  full  personality,  with  its  appro- 
priate organ  of  expression  and  action,  which  will  be 
preserved  for  us ;  and  that  on  the  other  hand,  as  regards 
the  race,  God's  purpose  on  earth  will  be  fulfilled  in  the 
triumph  of  Christ  over  all  that  has  delayed  and  opposed 
His  work  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  This  hope  is  an  essen- 
tial element  in  the  Christian  salvation. 

One  question  remains  :  Is  this  hope  for  all  men  ? 
will  the  Christian  salvation  at  last  embrace  the  whole 
race?  In  his  exposition  Paul  is  concerned  with  the 
Christian  hope;  but  it  appears  that  he  held  that  the 
wicked  would  be  raised  to  be  judged  and  punished. 
Luke,  in  Acts  xxiv.  15,  represents  Paul  as  declaring  "a 
resurrection  both  of  the  just  and  the  unjust."  "The 
saints  shall  judge  the  world  "  (I.  Cor.  vi.  2),  but  they 
"will   not   be   condemned   with   the  world"   (xi.   32). 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         123 

How  the  wicked  are  raised  Paul  does  not  state;  the 
resurrection  of  the  righteous  is  due  to  their  relation  to 
Christ,  the  life-giving  Spirit  ;  and  the  wicked  have  no 
such  relation.  Our  Christian  hope  need  not  answer  the 
question.  It  has  been  held,  however,  that  Paul  believed 
that  all  men  would  be  saved.  All  things  will  be  subject 
to  the  Son  (I.  Cor.  xv.  24-28);  God  through  Christ  is 
reconciling  all  things  unto  Himself  (Col.  i.  19,  20)  ;  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow  and  every 
tongue  confess  (Phil.  ii.  lo-ii).  Even  if  we  could 
press  the  terms,  it  is  doubtful  whether  Paul  was  at  all 
thinking  of  the  fate  of  the  wicked,  as  he  was  absorbed 
in  the  greatness  of  Christ. 

III.  THE   WORK   OF   SALVATION 

It  is  God  and  God  alone  who  saves ;  and  salvation  is 
His  work,  which  man  receives  in  faith.  Such  is  man's 
need  of  salvation  that  he  cannot  save  himself;  such  is 
the  nature  of  salvation  that  God  alone  can  save.  In  this 
work  of  salvation  God  is  revealed  as  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit.  The  love  of  God,  manifested  in  the  grace 
of  Christy  is  possessed  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit. 

(i)  The  Love  of  G-od. — The  Christian  salvation  is  the 
fulfilment  of  the  absolute  and  perfect  will  of  God  as 


124     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

Love,  and  therefore  it  cannot  fail.  Hence  the  cer- 
tainty, confidence,  and  courage  characteristic  of  Paul's 
spirit  (Rom.  viii.  28-30  ;  Phil.  ii.  12,  13).  In  speaking  of 
God,  Paul  takes  for  granted  the  "  ethical  monotheism  " 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  necessary 
here  to  discuss  this  doctrine.  What  is  new  is  the  con- 
ception of  God  as  Father.  This  revelation  came  to  him 
in  Jesus  Christ,  and,  apart  from  Christ,  he  could  not 
have  thought  of  God  as  Father.  As  Father,  God  is 
love  (Rom.  v.  8),  from  which  the  believer  cannot  be 
severed  (viii.  38,  39),  mercy  in  relation  to  sinners  (Eph. 
ii.  4),  and  to  all  sinners  (Rom.  xi.  32),  and  grace  as 
saving  sinners  (Eph.  ii.  5)  fully  through  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  (Rom.  iii.  24).  Although  in 
the  apostolic  benediction  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  represented  as  the  manifestation  of  the  love  of 
God,  Christ  is  so  identified  in  the  work  of  salvation  with 
God,  that  God  may  be  thought  of  as  grace.  If  mercy  is 
the  disposition,  grace  is  the  action  of  God  as.  love  in 
relation  to  sinners.  The  reason  why  the  grace  of  God 
comes  in  the  redemption  in  Christ  Jesus  is  in  the 
divine  wrath.  In  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  God's  judg- 
ment on  sin  is  finally  and  completely  expressed,  as  well 
as   His  forgiveness  of  sin  offered.     Paul's  phrases,  the 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN        125 

righteousness  of  God  and  the  wrath  of  God^  are  easily 
misunderstood,  and  the  truth  might  be  expressed  in 
the  phrase  holy  love  of  God. 

The  revelation  of  God's  Fatherhood  we  to-day  con- 
ceive as  the  highest  stage  of  a  progressive  revelation,  of 
which  the  Law  was  a  lower  stage ;  but  Paul,  as  we  have 
seen,  thought  of  them  as  opposed,  and  as  the  Judaisers 
sought  to  impose  the  lower  stage  on  the  highest,  Paul 
could  not  but  think  of  an  antagonism.  Nevertheless 
Paul  maintains  the  consistency  of  the  divine  purpose 
by  (i)  regarding  the  Gospel  as  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise  made  to  Abraham,  which  was  prior  to,  and 
therefore  could  not  be  set  aside  by  the  Law  (Gal.  iii.  17), 
and  which  Abraham  received  on  the  same  condition  of 
faith  as  the  Gospel  requires  (Rom.  iv.  3) ;  and  (2)  repre- 
senting the  law  as  itself  a  preparation  for  the  Gospel  by 
the  sense  of  sin  and  need  of  God's  grace  it  awakened 
(vii.  7-25). 

This  revelation  had  a  wider  scope  than  the  former; 
God's  grace  was  now  offered  to  all  mankind.  This  ex- 
tension Paul  justified  by  the  argument  that  it  was  not 
as  circumcised  that  Abraham  received  the  promise,  and 
that  its  fulfilment,  therefore,  need  not  be  confined  to 
the  circumcised  (Rom.  iv.  9-12).     Translated  out  of  its 


126     LIFE   AND    TEACHING   OF   PA^UL 

Rabbinic  form,  what  this  means  is,  that  all  men  can 
exercise  the  faith  which  is  the  Gospel's  sole  requirement. 
The  objection  that  the  Gentiles  had  not  passed  through 
the  preparation  by  the  law  which,  according  to  his 
argument,  had  been  necessary  for  Israel,  Paul  does  by 
implication  meet,  even  although  the  objection  was  not 
explicitly  present  to  his  mind,  in  his  assumption  of  a 
universal  revelation  of  God  in  nature  (Acts  xiv.  15,  17  ; 
Rom.  i.  19,  20),  man's  religious  disposition  (Acts  xvii. 
27,  28)  and  conscience  (Rom.  ii.  14,  15).  Even  the  reli- 
gious beliefs  and  rites  of  the  Gentiles  might  be  a  tutor 
to  Christ,  as  the  law  was  to  the  Jew  (Gal.  iv.  1-3 ; 
iii.  24).  While  the  study  of  comparative  religions  does 
not  entirely  support  Paul's  estimate  of  heathenism,  yet 
the  results  of  foreign  missions  do  prove  the  capacity  of 
all  men  to  welcome  the  Gospel. 

As  a  pious  and  patriotic  Jew,  Paul  claims  a  special 
revelation  of  God  to  his  own  nation  (Rom.  iii.  i,  2  ; 
ix.  3-5) ;  and  although  we  may  think  of  that  revelation 
differently  from  Paul,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  used  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  a  Jewish  Rabbi  would,  yet  no  con- 
clusion of  modern  scholarship  forbids  our  recognising 
in  the  Hebrew  nation  a  progressive  revelation  culminat- 
ing  in   the   perfect   Revealer,   Christ.     The  admission 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         127 

which  Paul  could  not  but  make,  of  a  divine  election  of 
Israel  to  such  high  privilege,  suggested  one  of  the  most 
formidable  objections  to  his  Gospel.  If  your  Gospel  is 
true,  how  has  the  elect  nation  rejected  it  ?  If  God  has 
allowed  His  elect  nation  to  reject  the  true  Gospel,  how  is 
He  faithful  to  His  promises  ?  Should  not  the  fulfilment 
of  His  promises  be  such  as  would  lead  the  people  to  whom 
these  promises  were  made  to  accept  it  ?  Paul's  answer 
has  three  parts  :  (i)  he  asserts  God's  unconditional  liberty 
to  do  as  He  will  regarding  individuals  as  well  as  nations 
(Rom.  ix.  1-29);  (2)  he  discovers  the  reason  for  God's 
rejection  in  the  unbelief  of  the  Jewish  people  (ix.  30- 
X.  21)  ;  (3)  he  anticipates  that  God  means  at  last  to 
save  both  Jew  and  Gentile  (xi.).  Into  the  details  of  the 
argument  it  is  impossible  to  enter,  except  to  point  out 
that  Paul's  own  conception  of  God  as  Father  forbids  so 
arbitrary  a  use  of  freedom  as,  for  argument's  sake,  he 
claims  as  God's  right,  and  that  he  corrects  his  own  argu- 
ment by  admitting  that  human  unbelief  has  resulted  in 
divine  rejection,  and  by  expecting  that  God  will  yet  have 
mercy  on  all.  The  first  and  second  parts  of  the  argu- 
ment belong  to  a  local  and  temporary  polemic;  the 
third  has  a  more  general  and  permanent  interest.  Can 
we  with  Paul  hope  that,  when  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles 


128     LIFE    AND   TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

has  come  in,  all  Israel  shall  be  saved  (xi.  25,  26)?  As 
Judaism  is  to-day,  the  fulfilment  does  not  seem  pro- 
bable ;  but  a  world  thoroughly  evangelised,  and  a 
Christendom,  which  to  the  Jew  has  often  misrepresented 
Christ,  thoroughly  Christian  in  disposition  and  action, 
would  surely  offer  an  argument  which  would  at  last 
overcome  Jewish  unbelief.  To  the  writer  the  redemp- 
tion of  humanity  in  Christ  would  appear  incomplete  if 
in  it  were  not  included  the  people  from  whom,  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh.  He  came. 

While  Paul  conceives  of  all  mankind  as  included 
in  God's  purpose  of  grace,  yet  the  realisation  of  that 
grace,  rejected  by  the  Jewish  people,  is  within  the 
Christian  Church,  and  each  believer.  The  eternity  of 
the  divine  love  Paul  represents,  in  accordance  with 
ancient  Jewish  modes  of  thought,  as  a  choice  of  the 
objects  of  it  from  the  beginning  (II.  Thess.  ii.  13),  as 
a  foreknowledge  and  foreordination  (Rom.  viii.  29), 
election  (ver.  ^^),  and  call  "  according  to  God's  pur- 
pose" (ver.  28).  This  purpose  in  Christ  is  eternal 
(Eph.  iii.  11)  "before  the  foundation  of  the  world" 
(i.  4) ;  God's  love  in  mercy  and  grace  is  His  eternal 
will.  The  inference,  however  logical,  that  election  of 
some  involves  reprobation  of  others   is  not  drawn  by 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         129 

Paul,  who,  on  the  contrary,  affirms  that  God's  purpose 
is  to  save  all  (L  Tim.  iv.  10,  ii.  4;  Rom.  xi.  32). 
Whether  sin  and  unbelief  will,  for  any,  at  last  hinder 
the  fulfilment  of  that  purpose,  Paul  does  not  distinctly 
answer.  He  leaves  us  with  fears  and  with  hopes.  The 
fulfilment  of  God's  will  for  mankind  will,  in  his  view, 
involve  for  nature,  even  with  its  "  bondage  of  corrup- 
tion," its  pain,  change,  death,  a  glorious  transformation 
(viii.  21).  Meanwhile,  we  are  saved  by  hope  (ver.  24). 
(2)  The  Grace  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. — It  is  through 
Christ  and  in  Christ  that  God's  love  saves.  The  object 
of  Paul's  faith  was  Christ,  and  we  must  now  try  to  form 
as  complete  a  conception  of  Christ  as  He  was  known  to 
Paul  in  his  experience,  and  as  He  was  thought  of  by 
him  to  answer  his  mind's  questions.  For  in  Paul's 
doctrine  speculation  is  joined  to  experience,  and  we 
must  try  to  distinguish  them.  Paul  knew  Christ  as  a 
•personal  reality,  and  not  merely  as  a  theological  idea. 
That  knowledge  began  with  the  appearance  of  Christ  to 
him  on  the  way  to  Damascus.  What  Paul  says  of  the 
change  of  the  natural  to  the  spiritual  body  in  the  Re- 
surrection (I.  Cor.  XV.  51,  52)  was  probably  sug- 
gested by  the  appearance  of  Christ,  "  the  firstfruits  of 
them  that   are   asleep"   (20).     He  appeared   as  "the 


I30     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

second  man  from  heaven,"  whose  image  believers 
will  bear  (46-49),  and  as  the  "  Hfe-giving  spirit "  in 
contrast  with  Adam  as  "the  living  soul."  But  he 
appeared  bodily  (Col.  ii.  9;  Phil.  iii.  21).  Whai  Paul 
saw  was  "the  glory  of  the  Lord"  (II.  Cor.  iii.  18).  In 
the  body  of  His  glory  Christ  is  "  the  image  of  the  in- 
visible  God"  (Col.  i.  15).  This  glory  is  perceived  as 
light  of  dazzling  brightness  (Acts  xxii.  11). 

As  life-giving  spirit  Christ  is  conceived  by  Paul,  in 
accordance  with  the  Old  Testament  conception  of  spirit^ 
as  the  divine  energy  by  which  he  had  been  completely 
renewed,  made  a  new  creation.  Christ  as  the  power 
as  well  as  wisdom  of  God  (I.  Cor.  i.  24)  enables  Paul  to 
do  all  things  (Phil.  iv.  13),  and  His  strength  is  perfected 
in  weakness  (II.  Cor.  xii.  9).  The  Resurrection  of 
Christ  was  an  act  of  divine  omnipotence,  and  that 
power  of  God  resides  in  and  is  transmitted  by  the 
Risen  One  (Eph.  i.  19-20),  and  this  divine  power,  ex- 
perienced by  believers,  is  the  evidence  of  Christ's  divine 
dignity. 

This  investiture  with  divine  dignity  and  power  took 
place  at  the  Resurrection.  The  exaltation  after  humilia- 
tion was  not  merely  to  the  previous  state,  but  to 
something  more,  as  a  reward  of  the  humiliation.     God 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         131 

gave  Him  the  name  above  every  other  name,  that  is, 
Zord  (PhAl.  ii.  5-1 1),  and  He  was  declared  (marked  off, 
set  apart)  Son  of  God  with  power  (Rom.  i.  3-4).  The 
confession  of  Christ's  Lordship  was  the  earliest  creed 
of  Christendom  (H.  Cor.  iv.  5).  In  Rom.  x.  13  Paul 
quotes  the  words  of  Joel  ii.  32,  which  refer  to  Jehovah 
{cf.  1.  Cor.  X.  22,  from  Deut.  xxxii.  21)  in  regard  to 
Christ ;  and  this  transference  to  Christ  of  words  written 
of  God  in  the  Old  Testament  is  characteristic  of  the 
New  Testament  writers.  Not  only  did  Paul  pray  to 
Christ  as  Lord  (II.  Cor.  xii.  8),  but  he  describes  be- 
lievers as  those  "  that  call  upon  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ"  (I.  Cor.  i.  2).  All  things  are  subjected 
by  God  to  Christ  (xv.  27).  Most  significant  is  the 
solemn  and  deliberate  confession  Paul  opposes  to 
polytheism  :  "  To  us  there  is  one  God,  the  Father,  of 
whom  are  all  things,  and  we  unto  him ;  and  one  Lord, 
Jesus  Christ,  through  whom  are  all  things,  and  we 
through  him "   (viii.   6). 

Is  this  Lordship  of  Christ  consistent  with  monotheism  ? 
There  is  a  subordination  of  Christ  to  the  Father.  While 
the  Father  is  first  cause  and  last  end,  Christ  is  the  agent 
or  medium.  The  Son  is  dependent  on  the  Father,  for 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells  in  Him  bodily,  be- 


132     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

cause  it  so  seemed  good  (Col.  i.  19).  The  Lordship 
is  given  by  God's  grace  (Phil.  ii.  9).  God  raised 
Him  by  His  power  (I.  Cor.  vi.  14).  Christ  is 
God's,  as  the  Christian  is  Christ's  (I.  Cor.  iii.  23).  In 
the  end  even  Christ  will  be  subject  of  God,  that 
"  God  may  be  all  in  all  "  (I.  Cor.  xv.  28).  A  passage 
so  doubtful  in  its  interpretation  as  Rom.  ix.  5  (see 
R.V.,  margin)  cannot  modify  this  emphatic  teaching 
on  subordination. 

This  view  of  Christ's  person  was  Paul's  from  the 
beginning.  In  the  Captivity  Epistles  (Colossians, 
Ephesians,  Philippians)  we  have,  not  a  development 
of  his  belief,  but,  in  opposition  to  heresy,  a  more  ex- 
pHcit  statement  of  it.  In  Col.  i.  13-17  Christ  is  de- 
scribed in  three  phrases — "the  Son  of  His  Love,"  "  the 
image  of  the  invisible  God,"  and  "  the  firstborn  of  all 
creation."  Christ's  absolute  superiority  to  all  angels  is 
shown  in  the  first  phrase,  which  represents  Christ  as 
first  the  object  and  then  the  agent  of  the  love,  which 
is  the  very  nature  of  God.  The  second  phrase  asserts 
that  as  Christ  perfectly  possesses  so  He  perfectly  reveals 
the  Being  of  God,  otherwise  unknown.  His  relation  to 
God  determines  His  place  in  the  universe — "  the  first- 
born of  all  creation."     This  phrase  does  not  include 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         133 


Him  among  creatures ;  as  His  relation  to  the  Creation 
is  defined  in  the  phrases,  "  in  Him,  through  Him,  unto 
Him";  in  the  widest  sense  He  is  God's  agent  and 
representative  in  the  world.  "  He  is  before  all  things ; 
and  in  Him  all  things  consist."  This  is  theological 
speculation,  not  religious  experience  ;  but  its  truth  for 
us  will  depend  on  the  worth  we  assign  to  Christ.  If 
He  is  all  that  God  is  to  us,  we  may  assign  Him  such 
a  function  in  God's  world. 

Although  for  a  practical  purpose,  to  enforce  the  lesson 
of  humility  and  unselfishness,  Paul  essays  an  even  bolder 
flight  of  speculation  in  Phil.  ii.  6-8,  a  passage  regarding 
the  interpretation  of  which  there  has  been  much  discus- 
sion. The  writer  can  but  briefly  give  his  own  conclu- 
sions. The  phrase,  the  form  of  God,  assigns  to  Christ 
divine  nature,  and  not  merely  divine  functions  or  privi- 
leges. The  equality  with  God  is  not  in  the  possession 
of  the  form  of  God,  but  in  the  name  above  every  other 
name.  The  prize,  this  equality  with  God,  was  not  already 
possessed,  as  the  form  of  God  was.  It  was  a  thing 
which  might  have  been  grasped,  but  was  received  as  a 
gift  in  reward  for  the  self-emptying.  This  self-emptying 
was  not  the  surrender  of  divine  nature,  but  of  divine 
functions  and  privileges.      Although  the  divine  nature 


134     LIFE   AND    TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

was  possessed  by  Christ,  He  did  not  claim,  as  a  right, 
the  equality  with  God,  but  received  it  as  a  reward  for 
His  voluntary  surrender  of  divine  functions  and  privi- 
leges. It  must  be  admitted  that  this  speculation  of 
Paul's  offers  many  difficulties  to  our  thought ;  but  it  is 
impossible  here  to  attempt  any  solution  of  the  problem. 
This  must  be  insisted  on,  that  Paul  was  doubtless  less 
concerned  about  the  adequacy  of  this  explanation  than 
about  the  moral  significance  of  the  Incarnation  as  divine 
self-sacrifice.  The  same  appeal  to  this  divine  exam.ple 
is  made  in  II.  Cor.  vili.  9. 

These  two  passages  teach  the  pre-existence  of  Christ, 
as  also  those  in  which  His  being  sent  by  the  Father  is 
mentioned  (Gal.  iv.  4 ;  Rom.  viii.  3).  While  it  is  likely 
that  Paul  shared  the  current  Jewish  belief  in  the  pre- 
existence  of  whatever  has  worth,  as  the  Temple,  the 
Messiah,  his  ascription  of  pre-existence  would  be  quite 
explicable  apart  from  that  belief.  He  thought  of  Christ 
as  so  divine  that  it  would  have  been  incredible  to  him 
that  He  could  have  begun  to  be  in  time.  The  pre- 
existence  is  involved  in  the  divinity  of  Christ  in  any 
proper  sense  of  the  term  ;  to  affirm  the  one  is  to  infer 
the  other. 

In  contrast  to  the  pre-existence  in  the  form  of  God, 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         135 

and  the  exaltation  to  equality  with  God  at  the  Resurrec- 
tion, the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  was  for  Paul  a  humiliation. 
He  was  not  ignorant  of  the  record  of  that  life,  as  his 
appeals  to  the  teaching  and  example  of  Jesus  for  prac- 
tical ends  show,  yet  his  interest  was  so  centred  on  the 
Crucified  Saviour  and  Risen  Lord  that  he  was  compara- 
tively indifferent  to  the  grace  and  truth  the  Fourth 
Evangelist  saw  in  it.  The  human  birth  is  mentioned  to 
call  attention  to  the  subjection  to  the  law  (Gal.  iv.  4) 
and  the  Davidic  descent  (Rom.  i.  3).  In  the  first 
passage  the  phrase,  "  born  of  a  woman,"  has  been  some- 
times held  to  be  a  covert  allusion  to  the  virgin-birth ; 
but  this  view  cannot  be  pressed.  In  the  second  passage 
the  Davidic  descent  describes  Christ  '*  according  to  the 
flesh,"  while  the  higher  side  of  His  being  is  "  according 
to  the  spirit  of  holiness."  That  Christ  was  "  born  under 
the  law  "  was  for  Paul  of  primary  importance  ;  for  it  was 
one  application  of  the  principle  of  redemption  that 
Christ  must  assume  all  from  which  He  came  to  deliver 
man.  To  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law.  He 
must  Himself  be  subject  to  the  law.  He  must  Himself 
feel  the  pressure  of  the  yoke  which  He  was  to  take  off 
from  others. 

The  same  principle  is  illustrated  in  Rom.  viii.  3  in 


136     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

regard  to  another  element  of  Christ's  humiUation.  In 
order  to  condemn  the  sin  in  the  flesh,  which  the  law 
was  too  weak  to  condemn,  Christ  was  sent  in  the  likeness 
of  flesh  of  sin  and  for  sin.  The  first  phrase  does  not 
mean  that  flesh  and  sin  are  identical,  but  that  in  man 
commonly  the  flesh  is  "  the  seat  and  vehicle  of  sin " ; 
nor  does  it  mean  that  Christ  did  not  possess  a  real  body, 
but  only  that  His  flesh  was  not  a  flesh  of  sin.  The 
second  phrase,  "for  sin,"  is  in  the  R.V.  rendered  "as 
an  offering  for  sin,"  in  accordance  with  the  usage  of  the 
Septuagint.  Paul  does  teach  that  Christ's  death  was 
such  an  offering  (iii.  25),  but  probably  in  this  passage 
the  phrase  has  a  wuder  reference.  In  every  respect 
Christ  deals  with  sin  as  the  law  had  failed  to  do.  His 
conquest  of  sin  under  the  same  conditions  of  moral 
struggle  is  the  condemnation  of  sin. 

Although  Christ  thus  conquered  sin,  yet  for  the  sal- 
vation of  men  from  sin  God  treated  Him  as  a  sinner, 
for  that  is  the  meaning  of  II.  Cor.  v.  21  :  "Him,  who 
knew  no  sin,  He  made  to  be  sin  on  our  behalf,  that  we 
might  become  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  The 
sinless  was  made  to  endure  all  the  consequences  of  sin, 
that  the  sinful  might  be  forgiven.  The  extreme  conse- 
quence of  sin  which  Christ  endured  is  stated  in  Gal.  iii. 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         137 

13:  "Christ  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law, 
having  become  a  curse  for  us ;  for  it  is  written,  Cursed 
is  every  one  that  hangeth  upon  a  tree."  The  saying  in 
Deut.  xxi.  23  gave  for  Paul  a  special  significance  to  the 
mode  of  Christ's  death  ;  but  the  curse  Jesus  endured 
has  also  the  wider  reference  of  Deut.  xxvii.  26  :  "  Cursed 
is  every  one  which  continueth  not  in  all  things  that  are 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  In  using 
this  term  in  reference  to  the  death  of  Christ,  Paul  pro- 
bably wished  to  lay  emphasis  on  the  exceptional  terror, 
darkness,  and  desolation  of  Christ's  experience  on  the 
Cross  ;  and  the  record  of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary  in 
the  Gospels  justifies  its  use. 

While  in  death  Christ  suffered  to  the  uttermost  for 
sin,  it  was  by  death  that  He  was  delivered  from  all 
further  relation  to  sin  (Rom.  vi.  10).  He  willed  His 
death  as  such  separation  from  sin,  for  in  this  He  is 
presented  as  an  example  of  being  dead  to  sin  and  alive 
to  God  (ver.  11).  His  death  and  rising  again  were  both 
moral  acts — renunciation  of  sin  and  consecration  unto 
God.  This  aspect  of  Christ's  death  is  more  fully  dis- 
cussed in  Rom.  v.  12-21.  The  greater  efficacy  of 
Christ's  grace  in  comparison  with  Adam's  sin  lies  in 
His  obedience,   in   contrast    to    Adam's    transgression. 


138     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

Not  merely  the  endurance  of  the  consequences  of  sin, 
but  the  voluntary  acceptance  of  them  in  obedience  to 
God,  gives  moral  value  to  the  Cross.  Probably  only 
the  need  of  meeting  the  Judaisers  on  their  own  ground 
led  Paul  to  give  greater  prominence  to  the  legal  aspect 
of  the  death  of  Christ.  The  moral  aspect  which  appeals 
to  us  to-day  so  much  more  convincingly  must  have  been 
altogether  congenial  to  Paul  himself,  although  he  does 
not  treat  it  so  fully.  The  act  of  obedience  was  also  an 
act  of  grace  (II.  Cor.  viii.  9),  and  Paul's  total  impression 
of  the  life  and  work  of  Christ  is  surely  expressed  in  the 
phrase,  "the  grace  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Of  this 
grace  as  a  constant,  satisfying,  personal  communion 
Paul  himself  made  abundant  proof  (Gal.  ii.  20).  It 
enabled  him  to  sever  himself  from  sin  and  give  himself 
to  God  (II.  Cor.  V.  14).  It  sustained  him  in  all  his 
trials,  for  he  was  sure  Christ  shared  his  sorrows  (II.  Cor. 
i.  5  ;  Col.  i.  24).  It  inspired  his  hope  either  to  survive 
to  the  Second  Coming,  or,  even  in  death,  "to  be  at 
home  with  the  Lord  "  (II.  Cor.  v.  6-8). 

This  idea  of  grace  we  may  apply,  as  Paul  did  not,  to 
answer  the  question  he  has  left  unanswered.  We  can 
understand  Christ's  moral  experience  "under  the  law" 
and  "in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,"  but  it  is  not  so 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         139 

easy  to  give  a  definite  content  to  Paul's  statement  that 
the  sinless  was  made  sin,  and  that  He  became  a  curse. 
The  pain  of  bodily  death  alone  does  not  give  full 
meaning  to  the  words.  In  His  "  inner  life "  Christ 
must  have  endured  the  consequences  of  sin.  How  was 
it  possible  for  One  who  knew  Himself  sinless,  the 
beloved  Son  of  God,  to  suffer  sorrow  and  shame,  death 
and  darkness  ?  Is  not  grace  the  explanation  ?  As  Paul 
felt  that  Christ  was  one  with  him,  and  he  with  Christ,  so 
may  we  think  of  Christ  as  making  Himself  so  completely 
one  with  sinful  mankind  as  to  make  His  own — not  in  a 
legal  substitution,  but  in  the  identification  of  love — all 
the  consequences  of  sin,  not  only  as  these  are  for  the 
sinful,  but  with  the  clearer  vision  and  the  keener  con- 
viction of  holy  love.  Paul's  experience  may  here  be 
used  by  us  to  complete  his  theology. 

(3)  The  Fellowship  of  the  Holy  Spirit.— The  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Apostolic  Church  was  a  develop- 
ment of  teaching  already  found  in  the  Old  Testament, 
as  well  as  an  interpretation  of  the  distinctive  Christian 
experience.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  presence  and 
power  of  God  in  nature  and  in  man,  especially  in  any 
exceptional  endowment  of  strength,  skill,  courage,  wis- 
dom,   or   character,    is   described   by    the    phrase    the 


140     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

Spirit  of  God  (Gen.  i.  2  ;  Ps.  civ.  30  ;  Judg.  xiv.  6 ; 
Exod.  xxxi.  3,  4;  II.  Sam.  xxiii.  2;  I.  Sam.  x.  10; 
Ps.  li.  II  ;  Isa.  Ixiii.  10).  The  inspiration  of  the  prophet, 
especially,  is  the  Spirit's  working  in  him ;  the  purifica- 
tion of  the  saint  is  also  His  work.  This  moral  and 
religious  reference,  though  not  absent  altogether,  is  far 
less  prominent  than  the  connection  of  the  Spirit  with 
the  unusual  in  human  endowments.  The  common 
teaching  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  apostolic  age 
attaches  itself  to  this  view.  The  experience  at  Pentecost 
of  a  "  holy  enthusiasm,"  a  religious  revival  accompanied, 
as  this  has  often  been,  by  unusual  states  of  conscious- 
ness and  modes  of  activity,  such  as  ecstatic  utterances 
(speaking  with  tongues),  confirmed  this  conception. 
After  baptism,  usually  by  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
apostles,  the  same  experience  was  elsewhere  shared  (Acts 
viii.  17,  ix.  17,  18,  xix.  5,  6).  The  baptism  of  Cor- 
nehus  followed  the  falling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  those 
who  heard  the  word  of  Peter,  and  was  regarded  by  Peter 
as  the  legitimate  result  of  the  divine  gift  to  the  Gentiles 
(x.  44).  In  the  Book  of  Acts  the  phrase  "  Holy  Spirit" 
does  not  merely  signify  the  divine  agent,  but  in  many 
cases  the  human  condition  of  spiritual  exaltation ; 
wherever  the  phrase  occurs  without  the  article,  it  has 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         141 

been  suggested  by  one  scholar  that  we  should  best  ex- 
press the  sense  by  the  phrase  "  holy  enthusiasm."  Paul 
himself  shared  this  holy  enthusiasm  ;  he  possessed  the 
unusual  gifts  which  often  went  with  it  in  a  pre-eminent 
degree  (I.  Cor.  xiv.  18;  II.  Cor.  xii.  i);  he  regarded 
every  one  of  these  gifts  as  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
(I.  Cor.  xii.  4) :  he  would  never  have  thought  of  seeking 
the  psychological  explanation  which,  in  regard  to  some 
of  them  at  least,  we  take  for  granted.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  his  moral  insight  and  spiritual  discernment 
prevented  his  over-estimating  their  value,  as  many  of 
the  converts  did.  In  Corinth  especially,  with  a  lax 
moral  standard  and  a  bitter  partisanship,  these  gifts 
abounded,  were  made  a  boast  of,  and  were  exercised 
without  any  regard  to  the  common  good.  This  led 
Paul  to  discuss  the  question  fully.  He  describes  the 
Church  as  a  body  with  many  members  ;  the  gift  each 
member  possesses  is  a  function  to  be  exercised  only  for 
the  common  good.  Among  the  gifts  he  includes  the 
less  showy  qualities  of  wisdom,  knowledge,  faith,  as  well 
as  the  unusual  workings  of  miracles,  speaking  with 
tongues,  &c.  He  subordinates  the  exercise  of  these 
gifts,  even  for  the  common  good,  to  the  more  excellent 
way  of  love,   emphasising  the  temporary  character    of 


142     LIFE    AND    TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

these  gifts  in  contrast  with  the  permanence  of  faith,  hope, 
love.  He  expresses  a  preference  for  prophecy,  which 
can  edify  all,  rather  than  speaking  with  tongues,  which 
brings  satisfaction  only  to  the  possessor  of  the  gift 
(I.  Cor.  xii.,  xiii.,  xiv.).  Thus  he  assigns  a  subordinate 
place  to  what  was  regarded  generally  as  the  distinctive 
evidence  of  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
Church.  It  is  elsewhere  he  looks  for  the  Spirit's  power, 
even  in  spiritual  enlightenment  and  moral  transforma- 
tion. "  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness, 
temperance"  (Gal.  v.  22,  23).  As  the  power  of  holiness 
in  man,  the  Spirit  is  opposed  to  the  flesh  as  "  the  seat 
and  the  vehicle  of  sin"  (ver.  17).  As  an  z>2Z£;^r^  power, 
the  Spirit  is  contrasted  with  the  law  as  outward  letter. 
Against  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  "  there  is  no  law  "  (ver. 
23).  The  new  covenant,  to  be  a  minister  of  which  is 
Paul's  joy,  is  "  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit ;  for 
the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life  "  (II.  Cor.  iii.  6). 
The  life  of  the  Christian  is  "an  epistle  of  Christ,  written 
not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God ;  not 
in  tables  of  stone,  but  in  tables  that  are  hearts  of  flesh  " 
(ver.  3).  This  inwardness  is  suggested  by  the  phrases 
in  which  the  behever's  relation  to  the  Spirit  is  expressed. 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         143 

He  lives,  is  led,  and  walks  by  the  Spirit  (Gal.  v.  16,  18, 
25).  The  "  spiritual  man  "  is  capable  of  a  moral  judg- 
ment which  gives  him  moral  independence  (L  Cor.  ii. 
15);  but  he  also  shows  a  helpful  sympathy  with  others, 
which  makes  him  a  succourer  of  those  who  have  fallen 
(Gal.  vi.  i).  He  who  has  the  Spirit  has  Hberty,  because 
he  clearly  sees  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  is  being  surely 
changed  into  His  likeness  (H.  Cor.  iii.  17,  18).  He  is 
also  marked  by  humility,  as  he  will  not  over-estimate 
his  gifts  (Gal.  vi,  3).  The  sanctification  by  the  Spirit 
(H.  Thess.  ii.  13)  extends  even  to  the  body,  which  is 
"a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  (L  Cor.  vi.  19).  Thus 
the  sensuous  sins,  which  paganism  so  lightly  regarded, 
are  a  destruction  of  the  temple  of  God,  a  defilement  of 
the  holy  (iii.  16,  17).  Not  only  is  the  individual  be- 
liever a  temple  of  the  Spirit,  but  the  Church  as  a  body 
with  many  members  is  "  builded  together  for  a  habita- 
tion of  God  in  the  Spirit"  (Eph.  ii.  22).  To  live  in 
the  Spirit  is  a  joy,  which  is  the  evidence  of  belonging 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God  (Rom.  xiv.  17).  The  possession 
of  the  Spirit  is  the  assurance  of  sonship  (Rom.  viii.  14 ; 
Gal.  iv.  6) ;  and  this  Spirit  is  not  "a  spirit  of  bondage, 
but  a  spirit  of  adoption"  (Rom.  viii.  15).  This  assures 
the  believer  not  only  of  his  present  sonship,  but  of  his 


J 

144     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

joint-heirship  with  Christ,  "  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with 
him,  that  we  may  be  also  glorified  with  him  "  (ver.  1 7). 
The  Spirit  dwelling  in,  leading,  and  inwardly  renewing  the 
believer  is  the  pledge  of  the  Resurrection,  for  thereby 
God  will  quicken  the  mortal  bodies  (ver.  11).  The 
Spirit  is  the  firstfruits  of  the  divine  harvest,  which  shall 
be  completed  in  the  redemption  of  the  body  (ver.  23). 
The  communion  of  the  children  of  God  with  the  Father 
is  even  mediated  by  the  Spirit.  The  indwelling  and 
inworking  Spirit,  knowing  as  the  believer  cannot  the 
purpose  of  God  concerning  him,  inspires  aspirations 
which  he  cannot  express  in  words,  but  which  God  Him- 
self, whose  Spirit  in  man  inspires  these,  will  fulfil.  God 
by  His  Spirit  awakens  yearnings  and  longings,  in  order 
to  meet  them,  which  the  believer  unaided  could  not 
himself  feel  (vers.  26,  27). 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  and  how  are  we  to  think  of  Him  or  it  ? 
It  is  to  impose  a  meaning  Paul  never  intended  in 
I.  Cor.  ii.  10  to  assert  that  the  Spirit  is  God's  self- 
consciousness  in  a  philosophical  sense.  Here  we  have 
not  a  definition,  but  an  analogy ;  as  a  man  knows  his 
own  inner  life  better  than  can  any  other,  so  the  Spirit  of 
God  knows  best  the  deep  things  of  God.     That  the 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         145 

Spirit  is  not  to  be  identified  with  the  Risen  Christ  has 
already  been  shown  in  the  previous  section.  Paul 
ascribes  personal  activity  to  the  Spirit.  He  works  (I. 
Cor.  xii.  11),  teaches  (ii.  13),  wills,  dwells,  leads,  bears 
witness,  helps  (Rom.  viii.  9,  14,  16,  26).  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  co-ordinated  with  the  Father  and  Son  in  IL 
Cor.  xiii.  14 ;  L  Cor.  xii.  4-6  ;  and  Eph.  iv.  4-6.  It  is 
impossible  to  regard  the  Spirit  as  merely  a  personification, 
such  as  sin  and  death,  or  a  common  consciousness  of 
the  Church.  He  is  God  personally  present  and  active 
in  the  inmost  life  of  man,  the  complete  expression  of 
divine  immanence. 

IV.  THE   CLAIM   OF   SALVATION 

It  is  God,  and  God  alone,  who,  as  Father,  Son,  and 
Spirit,  saves  man  from  sin ;  but  in  being  saved  man  is 
not  the  puppet  of  divine  omnipotence ;  he  makes  his 
own  what  God  bestows ;  just  because  it  is  God  who 
worketh  in  him  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure, 
he  must  work  out  his  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling  (Phil.  ii.  12).  Human  liberty  and  responsi- 
bility are  not  superseded  by  divine  grace.  Much  as 
Paul  insists  that  salvation  is  God's  free  gift,  and  that  to 
seek  to  establish  one's  own  righteousness  is  to  be  igno- 


146     LIFE   AND   TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

rant  of,  or  disobedient  to,  God's  righteousness  (Rom.  x. 
3),  yet  he  fully  recognises,  in  his  numerous  and  urgent 
exhortations,  that  man  helps  or  hinders  God  in  His 
work  of  salvation.  It  is  unnecessary  to  quote  many 
passages  in  illustration  of  this  statement.  Let  two 
suffice:  "Rejoice  alway;  pray  without  ceasing;  in 
everything  give  thanks ;  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus  to  you-ward.  Quench  not  the  Spirit ; 
despise  not  prophesyings  ;  prove  all  things  ;  hold  fast 
that  which  is  good ;  abstain  from  every  form  of  evil " 
(I.  Thess.  V.  16-21).  "In  diligence  not  slothful;  fer- 
vent in  spirit ;  serving  the  Lord ;  rejoicing  in  hope ; 
patient  in  tribulation';  continuing  stedfastly  in  prayer" 
(Rom.  xii.  11-12).  The  exhortation  in  Eph.  vi.  10-20 
to  "put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God"  makes  clear 
Paul's  conception  of  the  Christian  life  as  an  appropria- 
tion by  man  of  the  sufficient  and  effective  resources  of 
God  for  his  salvation.  While  Paul  insists  on  mutual 
helpfulness  in  this  precept,  "  Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ,"  he  no  less 
asserts  individual  responsibility.  "  Each  man  shall 
bear  his  own  burden"  (Gal.  vi.  2,  5).  His  repeated 
reference  to  the  divine  judgment  points  in  the  same 
direction. 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         147 

Man  claims  the  salvation  God  bestows  in  the  three 
graces  of  faith,  hope,  love.  Although  Paul  declares 
love  to  be  the  greatest  of  the  three  (L  Cor.  xiii.  13),  in 
his  treatment  of  the  Christian  life  much  more  is  said 
of  faith,  and  this  is  explicable  by  the  conditions  under 
which  he  had  to  expound  and  defend  his  Gospel.  In  a 
previous  section  we  have  already  discussed  what  is  meant 
by  "  the  righteousness  of  God "  in  opposition  to  the 
righteousness  of  the  law ;  the  former  is  by  faith,  the 
latter  by  works.  This  antithesis  runs  through  Paul's 
doctrine.  To  be  justified  is  not  to  be  made  righteous, 
but  to  be  reckoned  righteous,  not  by  the  performance 
of  the  works  of  the  law,  but  by  the  exercise  of  faith  in 
the  righteousness  of  God.  To  misconceive  faith  is  to 
misrepresent  the  whole  theological  system  of  Paul,  and 
many  of  the  caricatures  of  it  which  we  have  seen  are 
entirely  due  to  a  misunderstanding  of  what  he  means  by 
faith.  It  is  the  whole  inner  life  of  man  which  is  exer- 
cised in  faith.  "With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto 
righteousness  "  (Rom.  x.  10).  It  is  an  activity.  ^'  Faith 
energises  in  love  "  (Gal.  v.  6)  as  its  motive  and  power. 
It  is  described  as  "the  work  of  faith"  along  with  "the 
labour  of  love  "  and  "  the  endurance  of  hope  "  (I.  Thess. 
i.  3).     It  is  morally  conditioned.     Those  who  "believed 


148     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

not  the  truth  had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness  "  (II.  Thess. 
ii.  12).  It  is  a  submission  to  God  (Rom.  x.  3).  It  is 
the  belief  of  the  mind,  the  trust  of  the  heart,  and  the 
surrender  of  the  will.  It  is  not  a  productive,  but  a 
receptive  activity.  Man  does  not  make  truth,  grace, 
holiness,  nor  does  he  earn  them ;  God  gives — man  wel- 
comes and  uses. 

This  general  conception  is  made  much  more  definite 
by  the  object  of  faith.  It  is  the  righteousness  of  God, 
the  propitiation,  redemption,  reconciliation  God  offers 
in  Christ.  But  to  avoid  mistake  and  error  we  must 
emphasise  the  phrase  in  Christ.  Apart  from  the  per- 
sonal Saviour  and  Lord,  the  abstract  terms  may  easily 
be  defined  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  faith  something 
less  and  other  than  Paul  means.  Faith  is  a  personal 
relation,  as  extensive  and  comprehensive  as  a  personal 
relation  can  be.  It  is  confidence  in,  affection  for,  de- 
votion to  Jesus  Christ ;  and  thus  is  man's  claim  of 
all  Christ  can  be  to  the  soul.  Christian  faith  is  faith 
into  Jesus  Christ  (Gal.  ii.  16),  in  Him  (Eph.  i.  13),  or  of 
Him  (Rom.  iii.  22,  R.V.,  marg.).  Christ  dwells  in  the 
heart  (II.  Cor.  xiii.  5).  The  believer  no  longer  lives, 
but  Christ  lives  in  Him,  because  he  has  been  crucified 
with  Christ  (Gal.  ii.  20).     All  who  were  on  confession 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         149 

of  their  faith  baptized  into  Christ  were  buried  with  Him 
into  death  to  sin,  and  raised  with  Him  to  "walk  in 
newness  of  life"  (Rom.  vi.  4).  Henceforth  they  reckon 
themselves  dead  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  (ver.  11). 
So  complete  is  this  change  that  it  may  be  said  "  there 
is  a  new  creation  "  (H.  Cor.  v.  17,  R.V.,  marg.).  Christ 
becomes  for  the  believer  the  world  in  which  he  lives, 
moves,  and  has  his  being.  He  finds  himself,  and  so  is 
found  both  of  God  and  man,  in  Christ  (Phil.  iii.  9) ;  to 
him  to  live  is  Christ  (i.  21).  As  Christ's  he  has  Christ's 
spirit  (Rom.  viii.  9),  and  so  is  being  sanctified  as  well 
as  has  been  justified.  Faith,  then,  in  claiming  Christ, 
claims  holiness  as  well  as  forgiveness.  Although  in  his 
exposition  in  Romans  Paul  seems  to  separate  justifica- 
tion from  sanctification,  and  is  led  even  to  recognise 
that,  separated  from  sanctification,  justification  may 
appear  as  an  encouragement  to  moral  laxity  (Rom.  vi.  i), 
yet  for  his  experience  there  was  an  indissoluble  unity. 
The  object  of  faith  is  the  same,  and  the  exercise  of  faith 
is  the  same ;  a  personal  relation  of  trust,  fellowship, 
obedience  with  Christ  who  died  for  us,  and  lives  in  us. 

Closely  related  to  faith  are  two  characteristics  of 
Christian  life  which  claim  mention ;  the  believer  is  on 
the  one  hand  humble,  and  on  the  other  bold.     He  says, 


I50     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

*'  We  are  not  sufficient  of  ourselves  to  account  anything 
as  from  ourselves,"  and  "  Our  sufficiency  is  from  God  " 
(11.  Cor.  ,iii.  5).  Paul  is  an  instance  of  both  qualities 
when  he  acknowledges,  "  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles, 
that  am  not  meet  to  be  called  an  apostle,"  and  yet 
claims,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am  ;  and  His 
grace  which  was  bestowed  upon  me  was  not  found  vain " 
(I.  Cor.  XV.  9,  10).  The  contrast  is  probably  most 
vividly  presented  when  we  compare  I.  Cor.  ix.  27,  "lest 
I  myself  should  be  rejected,"  and  Rom.  viii.  38,  39, 
nothing  "  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  Faith  is  self- 
emptying  to  be  filled  with  God. 

The  exercises  of  faith,  accordingly,  are  prayer  and 
praise.  In  the  examples  of  Paul's  exhortations  already 
quoted  there  is  the  call  to  constant  prayer  and  praise. 
Thrice  Paul  definitely  prayed  that  the  stake  in  the  flesh 
might  be  removed  (II.  Cor.  xii.  8),  and  was  assured  of 
the  sufficiency  of  God's  grace.  Again  and  again  in  his 
letters  does  he  assure  his  converts  of  his  constant  inter- 
cession on  their  behalf,  blended  with  his  fervent  thanks- 
giving for  them.  Unceasingly  he  makes  mention  of  the 
believers  in  Rome,  that  he  might  by  God's  will  come  to 
them  with  a  spiritual  gift  (Rom.  i.  9).  These  exercises 
of  faith  bring  joy  to  the  soul  (I.  Thess.  v.  16,  17,  18). 


PAUL   THE   THEOLOGIAN         151 

If  faith  be  this  intimate  relationship  to  Christ  as  the 
Saviour  and  the  Lord,  it  follows  inevitably  that  faith 
will  be  exercised  in  constant  communion  with  Him ; 
when  in  need,  or  sorrow,  or  fear,  faith  w^ll  bring  its 
petitions ;  when  the  grace  of  God  is  abundantly  en- 
joyed, its  tribute  of  gratitude. 

The  Christian  good  includes  not  only  present  justifi- 
cation and  sanctification,  appropriated  by  faith,  but  also 
future  glorification,  a  blessed  and  glorious  resurrection, 
a  kingdom  of  God  coming  in  power  and  glory,  to  which 
hope  reaches  out.  There  is  salvation  by  hope  as  well 
as  faith.  "  By  hope  were  we  saved ;  but  hope  that  is 
seen  is  not  hope ;  for  who  hopeth  for  that  which  he 
seeth  ?  But  if  we  hope  for  that  which  we  see  not,  then 
do  we  with  patience  wait  for  it"  (Rom.  viii.  24-25). 
Endurance  of  the  afflictions  and  persecutions  of  the 
present  time  is  inspired  and  sustained  by  this  lively  and 
sure  expectation  of  the  completed  redemption.  As  the 
letters  to  the  Thessalonians  show,  in  Paul's  teaching  the 
object  of  hope  was  clearly  and  often  presented,  for  they 
did  not  need  that  he  should  write  to  them  "  concern- 
ing the  times  and  the  seasons"  (I.  Thess.  v.  i).  How 
speedily  the  fulfilment  of  their  hope  was  expected  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  death  of  some  of  the  be- 
lievers before  the  Second  Coming  was  a  problem  for 


152     LIFE   AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

which  Paul  must  needs  offer  a  solution  (iv.  13-18). 
The  expectation  was  so  intense  as  to  lead  'to  a  neglect 
of  daily  duty,  to  an  unhealthy  excitement,  which  Paul 
sought  to  correct  by  insisting  that  a  certain  historical 
process  must  be  completed  before  the  Second  Coming 
could  take  place  (11.  Thess.  ii.  1-12). 

How  great  importance  Paul  attached  to  the  Christian 
hope  of  the  Resurrection  is  seen  in  the  care  with  which 
he  states  the  argument  for  in  opposition  to  the  denial 
of  it  in  I.  Cor.  xv. :  "  If  in  this  life  only  we  have 
hoped  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  pitiable  "  (ver. 
19).  With  the  content  of  the  hope  we  have  already  been 
concerned  in  a  previous  section ;  what  is  to  be  noticed 
here  is  how  much  Paul  makes  to  depend  upon  it. 
Preaching  and  faith  alike  are  vain ;  sins  are  unforgiven  ; 
those  who  have  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  have  perished 
(vers.  14,  17,  18).  Baptism  for  the  dead  is  profitless, 
so  is  the  risking  of  life  in  the  Christian  warfare  (vers. 
29,  32).  We  cannot  to-day  understand  how  much  the 
Christians  of  the  Apostolic  Age  looked  forward  to  the 
deliverance  from  present  dangers,  trials,  and  afflictions, 
and  from  the  shadow  of  death  that  this  hope  offered. 

We  cannot  tell  whether  many  in  the  Church  besides 
the  Apostle  himself  cherished  the  hope  which  he  ex- 
presses in  Rom.  xi.  of  a  restoration  to  the  divine  favour 


PAUL   THE    THEOLOGIAN         153 

and  blessing  of  the  chosen  people.  If  he  had  "great 
sorrow  and  unceasing  pain  in  his  heart,  and  could  wish 
himself  anathema  from  Christ  for  his  brethren's  sake, 
his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  "  (ix.  2,  3),  doubtless 
there  were  Christian  Jews  on  whom  the  same  burden 
rested,  and  who  would  eagerly  welcome  the  hope  which 
he  dared  to  cherish.  Surely  the  Christian  salvation 
itself  could  be  fully  possessed  only  by  those  who  dared 
to  hope  that  its  universality  would  be  proved  fact. 

While  the  expectation  of  survival  to  the  Resurrection 
was  common,  yet  other  Christians  must  with  Paul  have 
recognised  the  possibility  of  death  coming  to  them 
before  their  hope  was  realised.  Were  they  content  with 
the  vague  assurance  that  they  would  fall  asleep  in  Jesus, 
or  did  Paul  comfort  them  as  well  as  himself  with  the 
confident  expectation  that  to  be  with  Christ  was  far 
better?  (Phil.  i.  23).  Whatever  form  the  expectation 
might  assume,  this  was  characteristic  of  the  Christian 
life,  that  full  satisfaction  was  not  found  in  present  ex- 
perience, but  was  partly  anticipated  by  hope. 

The  greatest  of  the  graces,  love,  may  not  appear  as 
belonging  to  the  appropriation  of  the  Christian  salva- 
tion ;  but  if  God  is  love,  then  the  life  of  God  in  man  is 
not  complete  until  love  dwells  and  rules  in  the  heart. 
The  dependence  on  God's  grace  of  faith,  and  the  anti- 


154     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

cipation  of  God's  good  by  hope,  are  not  perfect  unless 
in  the  union  with  God  in  love.  It  is  true  that  the 
phrase,  "  the  love  of  Christ "  in  II.  Cor.  v.  14,  means 
Christ's  love  for  His  own,  not  their  love  for  Him  ;  yet 
the  potency  of  that  love  as  motive  depends  on  the 
response  of  love  it  awakens.  Paul's  fervent  confessions 
of  the  identity  of  his  life  with  Christ's  can  mean  nothing 
less  than  an  intense  affection  he  felt  for  Christ,  and  as 
he  assumes  that  all  Christians  are  so  united  to  Christ, 
we  may  take  for  granted  without  his  explicit  statement 
that  for  him  life  in  Christ,  the  Christian  salvation,  was 
fully  possessed  only  in  love  for  Christ. 

He  is  very  explicit  in  his  teaching  about  love  of  the 
brethren  and  of  all  men.  He  has  no  such  argument  as 
is  found  in  the  First  Epistle  of  John  to  show  the  neces- 
sity of  human  love  as  evidence  of  love  to  God  ;  but  he 
does  make  the  greatest  of  the  three  graces  of  religion 
not  only  the  more  excellent  way  of  Christian  service, 
but  even  the  supreme  principle  of  all  morality.  "  Love 
worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbour,  love  therefore  is  the  ful- 
filment of  the  law"  (Rom.  xiii.  iq).  The  application  of 
this  principle  to  the  details  of  daily  duty  belongs,  how- 
ever, to  Paul's  ethics  and  not  his  theology ;  and  we 
therefore  now  pass  from  Paul  the  theologian  to  Paul 
the  moralist. 


CHAPTER   VI 

PAUL   THE   MORALIST 

In  applying  the  principle  of  Christian  morality  in  details, 
Paul  had  to  encounter  two  difficulties.  On  the  one 
hand,  against  the  Judaisers  he  had  to  maintain  the 
Christian's  liberty  from  the  law  in  the  Spirit;  on  the 
other,  against  some  of  the  Gentile  converts,  who  claimed 
a  high  degree  of  enlightenment,  he  had  to  oppose  moral 
laxity.  The  moral  life  then  as  always  had  to  be  guided 
between  the  Scylla  and  the  Charybdis  of  legalism  and 
libertinism.  Paul  held  that  the  man  who  had  become 
a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus  would  be  so  led  and 
would  so  walk  by  the  Spirit  as  to  be  dead  to  sin  and 
alive  to  God.  He  found  that  many  who  made  the 
Christian  confession  were  still  held  in  bondage  to  the 
habits  and  the  standards  of  the  heathen  society  around 
them.  He  must  so  give  his  counsel  and  wield  his  in- 
fluence as  not  to  deny  the  Hberty  and  yet  prevent  the 

155 


156     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

licence.  It  is  not  necessary  to  mention  all  the  duties 
Paul  enforces ;  attention  must  be  confined  to  the  prob- 
lems of  ethics  for  which  he  had  to  find  solutions. 

In  paganism  the  sins  of  the  flesh,  especially  in  sexual 
relations,  were  very  lightly  regarded,  and  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  be  very  insistent  on  the  duty  of  purity  and 
temperance.  God's  will  in  sanctification  forbids  forni- 
cation (I.  Thess.  iv.  3),  for  the  body  even  is  for  the 
Lord  (I.  Cor.  vi.  14).  It  may  be  a  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  (ver.  19).  It  ought  to  be  presented  as  a  living 
sacrifice  unto  God  (Rom.  xii.  i).  On  account  of  not 
only  laxity  in  practice,  but  even  diversity  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  relation  of  the  sexes  in  the  Church  in 
Corinth,  Paul  is  led  in  the  First  Epistle  to  discuss  the 
question  fully.  He  without  argument  assumes  mono- 
gamy (I.  Cor.  vii.  2).  He  recalls  Christ's  prohibition  of 
divorce  (ver.  10),  and  is  careful  to  distinguish  his  counsel 
from  the  Lord's  command  (ver.  25),  although  in  his  advice 
he  believes  himself  to  be  guided  by  the  Spirit  (ver.  40). 
Under  the  existing  circumstances  of  persecution,  and 
with  the  expectation  of  a  speedy  return  of  the  Lord, 
he  recommends  abstinence  from  marriage,  but  always 
insists  on  its  legitimacy  (ver.  2).  The  unmarried  can  in 
his  judgment  give  to  the  Lord  a  less  distracted  mind 


PAUL   THE    MORALIST  157 

and  less  divided  service  than  those  who  bear  the  cares 
of  a  household.  He  failed  to  realise,  however,  the 
development  of  character  and  spirit  that  the  home  is 
fitted  to  bring  about.  The  existence  of  the  small  Chris- 
tian community  in  the  midst  of  a  pagan  society  pre- 
sented a  special  difficulty  in  the  marriage  relation. 
Husband  and  wife  did  not  always  share  the  same  faith ; 
did  this  difference  in  the  highest  interests  of  life  justify 
a  divorce?  Paul  answers  that  the  Christian  partner 
should  not  seek  separation,  but  might  acquiesce  in  it 
if  desired  by  the  other  (vers.  12-16).  And  the  reason 
he  gives  for  each  course  is  significant.  If  the  heathen 
partner  desires  the  continuance  of  the  relationship,  this 
is  to  be  welcomed  as  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of 
Christian  influence ;  if  separation  is  desired,  this  shows 
that  the  influence  might  not  be  effective.  It  is  in  the 
interests  of  domestic  peace  Paul  counsels  the  separation  ; 
whether  he  allowed  re-marriage  or  not  is  uncertain. 
His  counsels  regarding  the  veiling  and  the  silence  of 
women  (xi.  1-16,  xiv.  34-36)  in  the  public  assemblies  of 
the  Church,  although  supported  by  Rabbinic  arguments 
which  have  for  us  no  validity  whatever,  and  which  are 
opposed  to  Paul's  own  assertion  of  the  spiritual  equality 
of  all  in  Christ  Jesus  (Gal.  iii.  28),  were  prudent      The 


158     LIFE   AND   TEACHING   OF   PAUL 

Christian  women,  by  disregarding  the  restrictions  which 
modesty  was  held  to  impose  on  a  virtuous  woman,  would 
have  risked  their  moral  reputation.  Alike  in  his  counsel 
and  his  reasons  for  it  Paul  shows  himself  to  be  entirely 
a  man  of  his  own  time.  While  on  the  one  hand  Paul 
seems  to  think  of  marriage  as  merely  a  protection  against 
sexual  licence  (I.  Cor.  vii.  9),  on  the  other  he  does 
present  an  ideal  of  the  relationship  in  comparing  to 
it  the  relation  of  Christ  to  His  Church  (Eph.  v.  22-33). 
The  exhortations  to  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and 
children  (v.  22-vi.  4;  Col.  iii.  18-21),  indicate  a  stan- 
dard for  the  Christian  home  in  advance  of  the  customs 
of  the  environment.  While  there  are  problems  of  the 
home  to-day  for  which  Paul's  teaching  offers  no  direct 
solution,  yet  in  his  insistence  on  purity  and  maintenance 
of  monogamy  he  asserts  the  Christian  moral  principle 
for  this  relation. 

The  economic  order  of  society  to-day  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  ancient  world — now  free  labour, 
then  slavery.  Paul  assumes  the  existence  of  this  insti- 
tution ;  he  does  not  challenge  its  moral  right  or  social 
expediency,  even  although  he  insists  that  in  Christ  Jesus 
there  can  be  "  neither  bond  nor  free  "  (Gal.  iii.  28).  On 
this  relation,  as  on  that  of  the  sexes,  he  asserts  a  revolu- 


PAUL   THE    MORALIST  159 

tionary  principle,  but  accepts  existing  conditions,  while 
seeking  to  purify  and  elevate  them.  Masters  and  slaves 
owe  a  duty  to  each  other  (Col.  iii.  22-iv.  i  ;  Eph. 
vi.  5-9) :  the  masters  should  "  render  unto  their  slaves 
that  which  is  just  and  equal,  knowing  that  they  also 
have  a  Master  in  heaven  "  (Col.  iv.  i) ;  and  the  slaves 
should  obey  "  in  singleness  of  heart,  fearing  the  Lord  " 
(iii.  22).  In  the  letter  to  Philemon  the  question  is 
forced  even  more  closely  home ;  but  Paul  does  not 
seem  to  recognise  that  the  relation  itself  is  a  problem. 
He  recognises  the  master's  rights  over  his  slave,  and 
therefore  sends  him  back,  even  although  he  would  have 
liked  to  keep  him  for  service  (vers.  12-14).  He  pleads 
for  his  forgiveness,  and  his  welcome,  "no  longer  as  a 
slave,  but  more  than  a  slave,  a  brother  beloved  "  (ver.  16). 
This  does  not  mean  a  request  for  his  emancipation,  but 
for  his  kind  treatment  in  the  old  relation.  The  Chris- 
tian slave  is  advised  to  "  abide  in  that  calling  wherein 
he  was  called  "  (I.  Cor.  vii.  20).  He  is  not  to  distress 
himself  because  of  his  condition,  and  even  if  he  can 
secure  his  freedom,  he  is  not  to  seek  it,  but  to  make 
the  best  of  his  place  as  a  slave  (the  meaning  of  verse  2 1 
is  ambiguous,  but  this  is  probably  the  sense  more  con- 
sistent with  the  whole  context).  We  must  not  import 
our  modern  point  of  view,  and  suppose  that  Paul  was 


i6o     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

here  guided  by  expediency ;  that  he  recognised  the  social 
disorder  which  would  result  from  a  declaration  of  human 
equality  in  condemnation  of  the  institution;  and  that 
he  anticipated  the  gradual  transformation  of  theory  and 
then  practice  which  the  Christian  principle  involved. 
On  the  one  hand,  he  was  so  absorbed  in  the  life  in  God 
and  its  hopes  of  the  coming  of  God's  kingdom  that,  in 
comparison  with  this  good,  all  else  was  insignificant; 
and  on  the  other,  we  must  recognise  that,  as  the  citizen 
of  an  empire  in  which  citizenship  did  not  carry  with  it 
any  ability  or  responsibility  to  guide  the  course  of  public 
affairs,  he  never  thought  of  any  change  in  the  exist- 
ing order  until  at  Christ's  Second  Coming  it  would 
altogether  pass  away. 

Paul,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  proud  of  his 
Roman  citizenship,  and  ready  to  make  use  of  the  privi- 
lege it  conferred.  In  his  missionary  labours  he  had 
experienced  the  protection  that  the  Roman  government 
afforded  against  the  persecution  of  the  unbelieving  Jews. 
As  the  plan  of  his  work  shows,  he  did  recognise  and 
avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  for  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  which  the  Roman  empire  offered.  His  judg- 
ment differed  both  from  that  of  his  Jewish  countrymen 
and  that  which  prevailed  in  the  Christian  Church  soon 
after.     Although  he  must  have  known  something  of  the 


PAUL   THE   MORALIST  i6i 

defects  which  went  along  with  the  excellences  of  the 
Roman  Government,  he  does  not  discuss  these.  He 
asserts  that  the  State  is  of  divine  appointment,  and  has, 
therefore,  a  claim  for  human  submission,  as  resistance 
of  it  is  disobedience  to  God  (Rom.  xiii.  1-7).  As  its 
end  is  to  be  a  terror,  not  to  the  good,  but  only  the  evil, 
it  has  a  right  both  to  inflict  punishment  and  to  require 
tribute.  Paul's  teaching  is  in  accord  with  Christ's  on 
this  matter  (Mark  xii.  17).  While  advising  subjection  to 
the  State,  Paul  is  indignant  that  members  of  the  Church 
in  Corinth  take  their  quarrels  before  the  Roman  tri- 
bunals. If  any  differences  arise,  although  they  should 
not  arise,  let  them  be  settled  by  those  who  are  endowed 
with  wisdom  to  deal  with  such  matters  (I.  Cor.  vi.  i-ii). 
Christian  brethren  should  not  appeal  to  the  unrighteous, 
but  to  the  saints,  for  the  settlement  of  their  disputes. 
Paul  would  thus,  in  its  inner  life,  detach  the  Church 
as  much  as  possible  from  the  State.  Recognising  a 
temporary  function  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  restrain- 
ing human  wickedness,  especially  that  of  persecuting 
Judaism,  he  yet  expects  that  this  will  be  taken  out  of 
the  way,  and  the  outbreak  of  lawlessness  which  will 
result  will  be  ended  only  by  the  overthrow  of  the  powers 
of  evil  by  Christ  at  His  Second  Coming.  It  is  clear 
that  Paul  had  no  conception,  such  as  we  have  to-day, 


i62     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

of  the  increasing  value  of  the  activities  of  the  State  in 
securing  the  conditions  of  human  progress. 

Paul  had  no  occasion  to  discuss  the  institution  of 
property  as  he  had  of  marriage,  slavery,  and  govern- 
ment ;  but  in  all  his  exhortations  he  assumes  the  rights 
of  private  property.  He  not  only  requires  every  man  to 
work  for  his  own  living  (I.  Thess.  iv.  ii,  12),  but  him- 
self gives  the  example  (I.  Thess.  ii.  9  ;  II.  Cor.  xii.  13). 
As  regards  the  persons  who,  carried  away  by  the  excite- 
ment which  the  hope  of  Christ's  speedy  return  awakened, 
were  disorderly,  did  not  work,  and  were  busybodies,  he 
lays  down  the  hard  rule :  "  If  any  man  will  not  work, 
neither  let  him  eat"  (II.  Thess.  iii.  10,  11).  If  he  does 
not  dwell  on  the  dignity  of  labour,  he  recognises  its 
social  necessity.  Assuming  that  a  man  is  entitled  to  the 
results  of  his  own  labours  as  his  own,  he  attaches  great 
value  to  the  grace  of  hberality.  The  taught  is  to  "  com- 
municate unto  him  that  teacheth  in  all  good  things," 
and  it  is  in  this  connection  he  lays  down  the  general 
principle  which  is  commonly  otherwise  applied  :  "  What- 
soever a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap  "  (Gal.  vi. 
6,  7).  As  there  is  opportunity,  good  is  to  be  done  to 
"  all  men,  especially  toward  them  that  are  of  the  house- 
hold of  faith"  (ver.  10).  In  the  relief  of  the  poor  in 
Jerusalem  he  took  great  pains  to  arrange  collections  in 


PAUL   THE    MORALIST  163 

the  Gentile  churches.  The  giving  was  to  be  regular 
and  proportionate.  "  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week 
let  each  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as  he  may 
prosper"  (L  Cor.  xvi.  2).  It  is  to  be  voluntary  and 
cheerful  (II.  Cor.  ix.  7),  also  disinterested  (Rom.  xii.  8), 
for  it  is  valueless  unless  expressive  of  love  (I.  Cor. 
xiii.  3).  In  view  of  the  Lord's  speedy  coming,  the 
believer  will  not  attach  any  importance  to  his  posses- 
sions (I.  Cor.  vii.  30).  In  this  as  in  all  else  he  will  be 
loosely  attached  to  the  world  which  is  passing  away 
(ver.  31). 

Although  the  Council  in  Jerusalem  decided  that  the 
Gentiles  should  abstain  from  "the  pollutions  of  idols, 
and  from  what  is  strangled,  and  from  blood  "  (Acts  xv. 
20),  yet  Paul  seems  to  have  considered  its  decrees  as 
applicable  only  to  the  churches  of  Syria,  Cilicia,  and 
Galatia ;  and  thus,  when  the  question  of  "  clean "  and 
"unclean"  meats  emerged  in  Corinth  and  Rome,  he 
discussed  it  in  relation  to  first  principles.  He  agreed 
with  the  brethren  who  knew  that  the  idol  was  nothing, 
and  that  the  meat  offered  to  the  idol  could  not  be 
polluted  thereby,  and  who,  therefore,  had  no  scruples 
about  eating.  He,  however,  recognised  that  for  the 
brethren  who  had  not  this  knowledge,  partaking  of  such 
food  would  be  a  defilement  of  their  conscience.     The 


i64     LIFE    AND    TEACHING   OF    PAUL 

liberty  of  the  "strong"  might  become  "a  stumbUng- 
block  to  the  weak,"  for  the  practice  of  the  strong  might 
embolden  the  weak  to  act  in  this  matter  against  his 
conscience.  The  strong  is  advised  not  to  use  his  liberty, 
lest  in  causing  to  perish  the  weak  brother  for  whom 
Christ  died,  he  sin  against  Christ  (I.  Cor.  viii.).  The 
question  in  Romans  is  discussed  on  wider  grounds.  The 
scruples  about  meats  seem  not  to  have  been  confined 
to  food  offered  to  idols,  for  the  "  strong  eat  all  things, 
and  the  weak  eat  only  herbs"  (Rom.  xiv.  1-23).  Paul 
forbids  all  mutual  judgment  of  one  another,  as  God 
alone  is  Judge,  and  to  Him  alone  each  is  responsible ; 
and  claims  individual  liberty.  But  he  insists  that  this 
liberty  must  never  be  used  to  the  moral  injury  of 
another.  "  Destroy  not  with  thy  meat  him  for  whom 
Christ  died."  He  sums  up  the  discussion  in  the  startling 
statement,  "  Whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin,"  by  which 
he  means  that  in  all  action  a  man  must  follow  his  con- 
science, and  submit  that  conscience  to  the  rule  of  Christ. 
In  his  treatment  of  these  moral  problems  Paul  shows 
the  sanity  of  his  judgment.  He  himself  had  his  life  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,  he  gloried  only  in  Christ's  Cross ; 
he  waited  for  the  manifestation  of  the  Son  of  God  from 
Heaven.  If  this  "  other- worldliness  "  leads  him  to  appre- 
ciate at  less  than  their  full  value  the  family  and  the  State 


PAUL   THE    MORALIST  165 

as  factors  of  moral  progress,  and  to  attach  less  import- 
ance than  we  do  to-day  to  social  reform,  the  application 
consistently  and  courageously  to  human  institutions  of 
Christian  principles,  so  that  in  regard  to  the  status  of 
woman  in  society  and  the  condition  of  the  slave  he 
does  disappoint  us,  yet  he  was  not  carried  away  by 
fanaticism,  as  were  some  of  the  converts  in  Thessalonica  ; 
he  did  not  advocate  asceticism,  as  many  who  have  been 
absorbed  in  the  spiritual  have  done ;  he  recognised  the 
present  claims  of  all  social  relationships,  and  desired 
their  fulfilment  in  the  spirit  of  Christ.  His  was  neither 
an  unpractical  mysticism  nor  an  unspiritual  utilitarianism. 
He  took  full  account  of  the  realities  which  condition  and 
circumscribe  the  realisation  of  the  ideal.  If  here  and 
there  we  do  detect  the  limitations  of  the  Jew  trained  in 
the  school  of  the  scribes,  yet  what  is  general  is  a  clear 
perception  of  the  great  moral  principle  of  Christianity, 
the  love  which  can  combine  liberty  and  service,  and  a 
prudent  application  of  it  to  the  varying  conditions  of 
life.  If  we  think,  and  are  justified  in  thinking,  primarily 
of  Paul  the  theologian,  yet  we  must  not  overlook  his 
merits  as  the  moralist ;  for  in  his  thought  and  life  there 
was  no  separation  of  belief  and  duty  ;  the  faith  toward 
God  he  insisted  on  was  a  faith  which  energised  in  a 
love  which  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  moral  law. 


CHAPTER   VII 

PAUL   THE   MARTYR   (Acts  xxi.  17-xxviii.) 

Although  kindly  welcomed  by  James  and  the  elders, 
Paul  was  advised  to  try  and  allay  the  bitter  feeling 
against  him  by  conforming  to  Jewish  custom  by  taking 
part  in,  and  bearing  the  cost  of  the  fulfilment  of,  a  vow 
which  four  men  had  taken  upon  themselves.  Whether 
Paul  agreed  to  this  with  conviction,  or  only  as  a  com- 
promise, we  cannot  now  judge ;  but  whatever  the 
motive,  the  effort  at  conciliation  proved  vain.  The 
fury  of  the  Jewish  mob  was  aroused  by  the  charge  that 
he  had  defiled  the  temple  by  taking  a  Gentile  into  it. 
Saved  from  its  violence  by  the  captain  of  the  Roman 
garrison  in  Fort  Antonia,  his  attempt  to  defend  himself 
in  the  mother-tongue  failed  to  allay  the  excitement. 
Once  more  he  appealed  to  his  Roman  citizenship  when 
arrangements   were    being   made   to    examine   him   by 

scourging.     Warned  by  his  sister's  son  of  a  plot  to  kill 

166 


PAUL   THE    MARTYR  167 

Paul,  the  Roman  captain  was  ready  to  be  relieved  of  a 
difficulty  by  sending  him  to  the  governor  in  Cassarea. 
Although  Felix  was  convinced,  after  the  trial,  that  there 
was  no  case  against  Paul,  he  kept  him  in  prison  for  two 
years,  hoping  to  get  a  bribe  for  his  release,  and,  hear- 
ing him  speak  occasionally,  was  moved  to  fear,  but  not 
brought  to  repentance. 

On  Felix's  recall  in  disgrace,  Festus,  his  successor, 
anxious  to  conciliate  the  Jews,  suggested  the  trial  of  the 
case  in  Jerusalem ;  but  Paul,  knowing  that  his  enemies 
would  probably  discover  some  means  of  taking  his  life, 
and  hopeless  of  getting  justice  in  the  provincial  court, 
made  his  appeal  to  Caesar.  Although  the  case  had 
thus  been  taken  out  of  his  hands,  the  governor  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  of  consultation  with  King 
Agrippa  II.,  who  was  more  familiar  with  Jewish  affairs, 
in  order  to  find  out  some  definite  accusation  which 
could  be  made  against  the  prisoner.  The  facts  ad- 
vanced by  Paul  in  his  defence  seemed  so  strange  to  the 
governor  that  he  charged  him  with  madness  through 
much  learning ;  an  earnest  appeal  to  King  Agrippa  for 
understanding  was  met  with  the  sneer  :  "  With  but 
little  persuasion  thou  wouldest  fain  make  me  a  Chris- 
tian."    Although   Agrippa  expressed  the  conviction  of 


i68     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

his  innocence,  the  appeal  to  Caesar  could  not  be  set 
aside.  On  the  voyage  to  Rome,  Paul  showed  his  com- 
manding personality.  Warmly  welcomed  by  the  Chris- 
tians there,  he  made  one  more  attempt  to  win  his 
countrymen.  But  their  unbelief  again  made  him  turn 
to  the  Gentiles,  among  whom  for  two  years  he  laboured. 
Although  a  prisoner,  chained  by  the  wrist  to  a  Roman 
soldier,  who  was  one  of  his  guard,  he  was  allowed  to 
live  in  his  own  lodgings,  and  his  friends  were  suffered 
freely  to  visit  him.  Sir  Wm.  Ramsay  has  conjectured 
that  Paul  had  at  this  time  come  into  his  inheritance,  so 
that  he  was  no  longer  in  the  straitened  financial  cir- 
cumstances which,  during  his  missionary  journeys,  had 
often  compelled  him  to  toil  hard  for  his  Hving. 

During  the  two  years  in  Cassarea,  or  more  probably 
after  his  arrival  in  Rome,  Paul  wrote  the  letter  to 
Philemon^  and  the  letter  to  the  Church  at  Colossse, 
dealing  with  a  heresy  which  subordinated  Christ  to 
other  angelic  beings,  and  advocated  asceticism.  Some 
of  the  contents  of  this  letter  he  transferred  with  modifi- 
cations to  a  circular  letter  to  the  churches  in  Asia ;  and 
this  is  known  to  us  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 
Probably  near  the  end  of  those  two  years  in  Rome, 
Paul  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  in  which,  to 


PAUL   THE    MARTYR  169 

a  Church  that  had  given  him  much  joy,  he  opens  out 
his  heart.  In  this  intensely  personal  writing  we  get 
glimpses  of  his  circumstances  and  moods.  His  influence 
has  spread  "throughout  the  whole  praetorian  guard," 
and  his  boldness  encourages  others  to  preach  the  Gospel 
freely.  Enemies  there  are  who  so  preach  as  to  grieve 
him.  But  he  is  confident  that,  whatever  happens,  all 
will  be  for  the  best,  but  he  knows  not  whether  to  live 
or  to  die  were  better  (i.  12-30).  This  is  the  last  sight 
we  have  of  Paul  in  the  framework  of  the  history  in 
Acts,  the  abrupt  termination  of  which  is  one  of  the 
unsolved  problems  of  criticism,  with  which,  however,  we 
cannot  now  deal. 

If  the  Pastoral  Epistles  are  authentic  letters  of  Paul, 
the  allusions  they  contain  to  the  movements  of  Paul 
and  his  companions  give  us  materials  for  continuing 
the  story.  The  wTiter  must  admit  that  the  vocabulary 
seems  to  him  so  different  from  that  of  the  other  Pauline 
letters,  and  that  the  characteristics  of  Paul's  genius  are  so 
little  evident  in  the  teaching,  that  he  finds  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  recognise  Paul's  authorship.  The  considerations 
on  the  other  side  are,  however,  so  weighty  that  he  feels 
bound  at  least  to  sketch  the  story  of  Paul's  last  years  as 
these  letters  present  it  to  us.     Paul  either  escaped  or 


lyo     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

was  released  from  his  imprisonment  at  the  end  of  the 
two  years,  and  travelled  about  in  the  East  till  he  was 
rearrested,  taken  back  to  Rome,  tried,  and  condemned 
to  death.  /.  Timothy  was  apparently  written  somewhere 
in  Macedonia  to  Timothy,  whom  Paul  had  left  behind 
him  in  Ephesus  (i.  3)  to  set  the  church  there  in  order, 
but  whom  he  hoped  soon  to  rejoin  (iii.  14).  Titus 
seems  to  have  been  sent  from  Corinth  to  Titus,  whom 
Paul  had  left  in  Crete  (i.  5)  for  the  same  purpose  as 
Timothy  in  Ephesus.  Possibly  Crete  had  been  visited 
on  the  way  to  Ephesus.  Paul  does  not  intend  now  to 
journey  eastward  again,  but  desires  Titus  to  join  him 
at  Nicopolis,  where  he  intends  to  winter  (iii.  12).  There 
possibly  he  was  rearrested,  for  II.  Timothy  is  written 
from  prison  in  the  expectation  of  death  after  one  trial 
in  which  he  had  stood  alone  (iv.  9-21).  Brethren  who 
had  been  with  him  had  left  him  ;  Luke  was  faithful ;  but 
he  desired  the  presence  of  Timothy  and  Mark,  now 
commended  as  "  useful  for  ministering."  In  his  prison 
he  feels  his  need  of  the  cloak  he  left  behind  in  Troas, 
and  the  books,  especially  the  parchments.  But  he  looks 
backward  thankfully,  and  forward  hopefully.  "I  have 
fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  the  course,  I 
have  kept  the  faith  :    henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 


PAUL    THE    MARTYR 


me  the  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  judge,  shall  give  to  me  at  that  day"  (iv.   7-8). 

Paul  hoped  to  visit  Spain  after  he  had  been  in  Rome 
(Rom.  XV.  28).  According  to  Clement  of  Rome,  this 
intention  was  fulfilled  (I.  Epistle,  5).  He  was  "  a  herald 
both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west,"  and  before  his 
departure  "  had  come  to  the  //>«//  of  the  JVesf."  The 
last  phrase,  it  is  held,  can,  for  one  writing  from  Rome, 
mean  nothing  else  than  Spain.  This  tradition  has  other 
support,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  may  be  an 
inference  from  Rom.  xv.  28.  If  it  is  trustworthy,  this 
visit  must  have  taken  place  before  the  visit  to  Crete 
alluded  to  in  Ti/us  i.  5.  According  to  a  credible 
Roman  tradition,  Paul  was  beheaded  at  a  spot  three 
miles  from  Rome  on  the  Ostian  way,  the  name  of  which 
then  was  Aqius  Sahn'ce,  but  which  is  now  called  l^e 
Fo7itane.     Here  Constantine  erected  the  Basilica  Pauli. 

Although  Paul  described  himself  as  "chief  of  sinners," 
as  "  least  of  saints,"  as  "  not  meet  to  be  called  an 
apostle,"  yet  the  Christian  Church  accords  to  him  the 
highest  place  in  its  gratitude,  affection,  and  reverence. 
There  are  some  dark  spots  in  this  sun,  reminding  us 
that  only  One  has  shone  with  the  undimmed  radiance  of 
sinless  perfection.     He  felt  and  uttered  the  hate  of  hate, 


172     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

and  the  scorn  of  scorn.  He  could  blaze  out  into 
passionate  indignation.  He  could  pronounce  anathema 
any  who  loved  not  the  Lord  (I.  Cor.  xvi.  22),  call  down 
a  curse  on  those  who  preached  another  Gospel  (Gal.  i.  8), 
describe  the  Judaisers  as  dogs  (Phil.  iii.  2),  wish  that 
they  would  mutilate  themselves  (Gal.  v.  12),  desire  the 
fornicator  in  Corinth  to  be  handed  over  to  Satan  for 
the  destruction  of  the  flesh  (I.  Cor.  v.  5),  threaten  with 
divine  vengeance,  and  address  in  terms  of  contempt,  the 
high-priest  (Acts  xxiii.  3),  In  his  self-defence  he  was 
driven  to  indulge  in  boasting,  which  in  his  calmer 
moments  he  himself  felt  to  be  "not  after  the  Lord,  but 
as  in  foolishness"  (II.  Cor.  xi.  17).  He  recognised  his 
own  peril  to  "be  exalted  overmuch"  (xii.  7),  and 
accepted  his  stake  in  the  flesh  as  keeping  him  in  remem- 
brance of  his  weakness,  so  that  the  power  of  Christ 
might  rest  upon  him  (ver.  9).  Although  it  may  be 
objected  that  to  maintain  his  Gospel  he  had  to  assert  him- 
self, we  cannot  surely  appeal  from  his  own  self- judgment. 
In  the  defence  of  his  Gospel  against  the  Judaisers,  he 
is  not  as  scrupulously  fair  in  his  methods  of  controversy 
as  we  might  desire.  He  does  not  appreciate  the  diffi- 
culties of  his  opponents,  nor  allow  sufficiently  for  the 
revolution  which  his  own  conversion  had  brought  about 


PAUL   THE    MARTYR  173 

in  himself,  but  others  had  not  experienced.  Right  as 
was  his  contention,  necessary  as  was  his  victory  to  the 
progress  of  the  Church,  his  advocacy  of  the  Gospel  of 
grace  was  not  always  gracious.  If  the  interpretation  of 
11.  Cor.  ii.  5-1 1  is  correct,  Paul  had  in  a  personal  dispute 
demanded  a  severer  penalty  than  he  afterwards  regarded 
as  right,  and  confessed  that  Satan  had  nearly  got  the 
advantage  over  him.  His  Rabbinic  training  leads  him 
to  use  proofs,  such  as  in  the  passage  about  the  veiling 
of  women  (I.  Cor.  xi.  1-16),  which  his  enlightened  reason 
and  conscience  cannot  have  fully  approved.  His  assent 
to  the  proposal  to  bear  the  expense  of  the  purifying  rites 
(Acts  xxi.  23-26),  and  his  use  to  his  own  advantage  of 
the  divided  opinion  of  the  Council  (xxiii.  6),  seem  scarcely 
worthy  of  his  courage  as  a  man  or  his  faith  in  God. 

But  when  we  have  said  this,  it  is  all  that  need  be  said  ; 
and  it  does  not  lessen  our  appreciation  of  the  greatness 
of  the  man,  the  saint,  the  apostle.  His  was  a  great 
personality;  how  keen,  subtle,  and  searching  an  intel- 
lect, how  sensitive  and  yet  illumined  a  conscience,  how- 
tender  and  passionate  a  heart,  how  strong  and  masterly 
a  wil',  how  firmly  compacted  a  character,  how  persistent 
a  purpose,  unfailing  an  industry,  dauntless  a  courage, 
abundant  a  service.     Luke's  record   shows  how  deep 


174     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

was  the  impression  he  made,  and  how  great  the  influence 
he  wielded.  The  more  vehement  hostiHty  of  his  enemies 
towards  him  than  to  any  other  Christian  preacher  is  a 
tribute  to  the  force  of  his  personality,  as  the  intensity 
of  the  affection  he  inspired  to  the  wealth  of  his  soul. 
Wherever  he  is,  even  on  the  ship  that  conveys  him  as  a 
prisoner  to  Rome,  his  greater  manhood  gives  him  the 
leadership. 

But  his  natural  endowments,  great  as  these  were, 
were  purified  and  elevated  and  invigorated  by  his  faith, 
his  confidence  in  God,  his  personal  communion  with 
Christ,  his  possession  in  full  measure  of  the  "holy 
enthusiasm"  which  was  characteristic  of  the  Christian 
fellowship.  This  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God  explains 
alike  his  humihty  and  his  assurance  in  regard  to  his  own 
salvation,  mission,  message.  He  was  so  sure  because 
Christ  held  him  fast.  What  endears  him  most  to  us  is 
that  the  love  wherewith  he  knew  himself  loved  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus  so  subdued  his  strong,  proud,  vehement 
nature,  that  in  his  character  he  deserves  as  well  as  John 
to  be  called  the  apostle  of  love.  How  he  loved  his 
countrymen,  that  he  was  willing  to  be  anathema  from 
Christ  for  their  salvation  (Rom.  ix.  3) ;  how  he  loved  his 
converts,  that  he  never  ceased  to  pray  and  praise  God 


PAUL   THE    MARTYR  175 

for  them,  to  suffer  or  rejoice  with  them  (II.  Cor.  i.  3-1 1) ; 
how  he  loved  all  men,  that  he  was  willing  to  be  offered 
as  a  sacrifice  for  the  reconciliation  of  Jew  and  Gentile  in 
one  Church  (Phil.  ii.  17).  All  his  letters,  whether  he 
is  praising  or  blaming,  counselling  or  w^arning,  show  a 
heart  tender,  gentle,  forbearing,  and  forgiving.  How 
tactful  and  courteous  he  is !  Quotations  could  not 
adequately  illustrate  these  traits.  The  letters  must  be 
read  through. 

What  was  the  service  that  this  heroic,  loving  man 
rendered  to  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  We  may  put  it  in 
three  easily  remembered  phrases  :  his  experience  of  Christy 
his  exposition  of  the  Cross,  and  his  expansion  of  the 
Church.  In  no  other  apostolic  writings  is  the  life  hid 
with  Christ  in  God  so  fully  presented  to  us ;  nowhere 
else  does  the  fellowship  of  the  living  Christ  gain  so 
clear  expression.  That  Christ  is  not  a  posthumous  in- 
fluence or  example,  but  that  He  is  a  present,  living, 
mighty,  gracious  reality,  Paul's  record  of  his  experience 
testifies.  The  intensity  of  that  experience,  the  thorough- 
ness of  the  change  wrought  at  his  conversion,  the  variety 
of  the  crises  of  the  soul  through  which  he  passed,  give 
to  his  life-story  a  meaning  and  a  worth  such  as  we  do 
not  elsewhere  find.     Sometimes  this  experience  is  said 


176     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

to  be  exceptional ;  but  this  is  to  be  noted,  that  it  is  the 
type  which  has  been  reproduced  in  the  men  who  have 
most  powerfully  affected  the  course  of  Christian  history. 

Paul's  previous  experience  as  a  Pharisee  made  the 
supreme  question  of  life  for  him  :  How  can  sinful  man 
be  righteous  before  holy  God  ?  He  found  the  answer 
for  himself  in  the  Cross  of  Christ,  in  which  there  is 
revealed  the  righteousness  of  God  by  faith,  not  works. 
After  Christ  had  risen  from  the  dead,  the  Apostolic 
Church  did  recognise  the  divine  necessity  of  the  Cross  ; 
here  Paul  was  on  common  ground  with  the  other 
apostles,  but  no  other  worked  out  so  fully  in  thought, 
or  stated  so  clearly  in  speech,  what  the  death  meant. 
His  exposition  has  been  foolishness  and  an  offence  to 
not  a  few  in  the  Christian  Church ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  for  many  seers  and  saints  his  doctrine  has  so 
presented  the  reaUty  of  the  sacrifice  as  to  make  Christ 
Crucified  to  them  the  power  and  the  wisdom  of  God. 
We  must  not  identify  the  reality  that  saves  man  with  his 
or  any  other  man's  exposition ;  but  the  writer  is  free  to 
confess  that  both  his  reason  and  his  conscience  find  a 
satisfaction  in  Paul's  teaching  on  this  theme  that  he  can 
find  nowhere  else. 

As  has  been  already  shown,  Paul's  conception  of  the 


PAUL    THE    MARTYR  177 

Gospel  necessarily  involved  its  universality,  bore  in 
itself  the  impulse  to  preach  it  to  Jew  and  Gentile  alike. 
The  writer  himself  believes  that,  while  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  was  necessarily  confined  to  Jews,  yet  in  His 
teaching  there  is  already  a  wider  outlook ;  yet  the  early 
community  of  believers  was  bound  by  the  Jewish  exclu- 
siveness.  As  Philip's  work  in  Samaria,  Peter's  visit  to 
Cornelius,  the  founding  of  the  Church  in  Antioch,  show, 
the  growing  life  must  burst  these  bonds.  But  it  was 
due  to  Paul  that  the  Church  was  so  detached  from 
Judaism  as  to  be  able  to  appeal  universally  to  the 
Gentiles.  He  not  only  secured  the  freedom  of  the 
Gentiles  from  the  Jewish  law,  but,  on  the  one  hand,  he 
preached  a  Gospel  that  could  not  be  less  than  for  all 
men,  and,  on  the  other,  he  had  a  vision,  and  did  much 
to  realise  it,  of  a  Church  in  which  Jew  and  Gentile  would 
be  one  man  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Such  being  his  function  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
he  is  not  to  be  described  as  either  the  founder  of  the 
Christian  Church  or  the  perverter  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus.  The  Jesus  of  an  extreme  modem  criticism,  who 
was  but  a  Jewish  prophet  calling  men  to  repentance 
and  faith  in  view  of  the  near  coming  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  can  be  found  in  the  Gospels  only  by  violent  muti- 


178     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF   PAUL 

lations  of  their  contents,  and  is  not  great  enough  in 
character,  spirit,  influence,  to  give  even  a  start  to  the 
Christian  faith.  We  may  believe  that  He  was  great 
enough  in  His  earthly  life  to  know  what  He  would  come 
to  be  for  the  life  in  God  of  man  ;  and  in  calling  His 
disciples  to  Him,  and  inspiring  them  with  the  faith  of 
which  they  were  afterwards  the  witnesses.  He  Himself 
was  the  founder  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  Gospel 
which  He  preached  even  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  had 
already  intimations  regarding  His  person  and  His  work 
which  fully  justified  the  Apostolic  Gospel;  nay,  even  the 
more  comprehensive  and  definite  exposition  of  it  found 
in  Paul's  theology.  In  the  preceding  pages  the  need 
of  severing  the  Christian  kernel  from  the  Jewish  husk 
in  that  theology  has  been  fully  recognised  ;  but  when 
we  have  conceded  all  that  can  be  demanded,  there 
remains  in  Paul's  experience  and  interpretation  of 
Christ's  person  and  work  no  contradiction  of  the  mission 
and  message  of  Jesus,  as  He  Himself  conceived  them. 
Paul  described  himself  as  the  bond-slave  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
it  was  Christ  only  he  loved,  Christ's  Gospel  he  preached, 
and  Christ's  Church  into  which  he  gathered  the  Gentile 
as  well  as  the  Jew. 


APPENDIX 

(i)  Literary  Sources. — The  Book  of  Acts  gives  us  the 
record  of  the  missionary  labours  of  Paul ;  his  own  Letters 
not  only  contain  his  teaching,  but  abound  in  allusions 
which  enable  us  to  become  familiar  with  his  personality, 
his  relation  to  the  churches  he  founded,  and  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  did  his  work.  The  critical  judgment 
of  Luke's  trustworthiness  as  a  historian  has  recently 
become  much  more  favourable.  Sir  Wm.  Ramsay  has 
shown  how  well  informed  he  was  at  all  points  where  he 
can  be  tested  by  contemporary  authorities.  Dr.  Har- 
nack,  while  distrustful  of  his  readiness  to  belief  in  the 
supernatural,  has  after  exhaustive  inquiry  reached  the 
conclusion  that  Luke,  the  beloved  physician,  was  the 
author  not  only  of  the  "we  sections"  but  of  the  whole 
book.  It  is  a  companion  of  Paul's  who  describes  his 
work  for  us.     In  regard  to  the  authenticity  of  the  letters 

of  Paul,  criticism  is  more  closely  approaching  the  tradi- 

179 


i8o     LIFE    AND    TEACHING    OF    PAUL 

tions  of  the  Christian  Church.  With  some  suspense  of 
judgment  regarding  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  the  writer  has 
freely  used  all  the  other  letters  in  dealing  with  Paul's 
life  and  teaching.  As  these  writings  are  genuine  letters, 
not  treatises  which  for  literary  effect  are  clothed  in  that 
form,  they  have  the  highest  value  as  autobiography. 
While  with  this  material  at  our  command,  we  may  not 
be  able  to  construct  a  complete  and  certain  record,  yet 
Paul's  experience,  character,  activity,  influence,  theology, 
and  service  can  be  known  from  his  own  self-testimony, 
so  as  to  make  him  live  again  for  us. 

(2)  Chronology. — The  data  are  the  following  :  (i)  the 
death  of  Herod  Agrippa  I.  took  place  at  Cjesarea  (Acts 
xii.  20-23)  i^  •^•^-  44-  (2)  The  famine  in  the  days  of 
Claudius  (xi.  27-30,  xii.  25)  lasted  some  years,  but  was 
partly  at  the  same  time.  (3)  Felix  was  recalled  (xxiv. 
27)  in  A.D.  55  according  to  Harnack,  but  a.d.  60  accord- 
ing to  other  chronologists.  (4)  As  Paul  left  Troas  on 
the  Monday  morning  after  the  Passover,  it  is  held 
possible  to  fix  that  date  also,  but  Lewin  gives  58  and 
Ramsay  57  as  the  year.  (5)  Stephen's  martyrdom  (vii.) 
cannot  have  taken  place,  it  is  argued,  in  Pilate's  pro- 
curatorship,  that  is,  before  a.d.  36.  (6)  Aretas  was 
probably  not  in  possession  of  Damascus  (II.  Cor.  xi.  32) 


APPENDIX  i8i 


till  after  a.d.  37.  The  data  (5)  and  (6)  would  forbid  our 
placing  the  conversion  before  a.d.  36;  but  Ramsay, 
identifying  the  visit  at  the  time  of  the  famine  (Acts  xi. 
27-30)  with  that  mentioned  by  Paul  as  fourteen  years 
after  his  conversion  (Gal.  ii.  i),  an  opinion  with  which 
the  writer  agrees,  gives  32  or  33  as  the  date  of  the  con- 
version. Harnack,  reckoning  back  from  a.d,  55  as  the 
date  of  Felix's  recall,  places  the  conversion  in  a.d.  30. 
The  matter  cannot  be  fully  discussed  here,  but  the 
following  table,  slightly  modified,  from  Hastings'  Bible 
Dictionary  gives  the  views  of  four  scholars  : — 


Crucifixion 
St.  Paul's  Conversion 
St.  Paul's  First  Visit  to  \ 
Jerusalem       .         .       / 
Second  Visit  to  Jerusalem  . 
First  Missionary  Journey . 
Second  I\rissionary  Journey 
Arrival  at  Corinth     . 
Third  Missionary  Journey . 
Departure  from  Ephesus  . 
Final  Visit  to  Jerusalem    . 
Arrival  at  Rome 
Close  of  Acts    . 

Paul's  death,  if  he  was  released  at  the  end  of  the  two 
years,  can  be  placed  between  a.d.  65  and  67. 


Harnack 

Turner 

Ramsay 

LiGHTFOOT 

29  or  30 

2Q 

30 

[30] 

30 

35-36 

33 

34 

33 

38 

35-36 

37 

[44] 

46 

46 

45 

45 

47 

47 

48 

47 

49 

50 

51 

48 

50 

51 

52 

50 

52 

53 

54 

53 

55 

56 

57 

54 

56 

57 

=^8 

57 

59 

60 

61 

59 

61 

62 

63 

INDEX 


Abraham,  114,  125 
Acts,  179 
Adam,  15,  95,  137 
Advent  (Second),  20,  120 
Agabus,  42,  67 
Allegory,  17 
Ananias,  24 
Angels,  ID 
Apocalypses,  12,  19 
Apocrypha,  12,  15 
Apostle,  72 
Arabia,  32,  33 
Areopagus,  57 
Asiarchs,  62 
Baptism,  82 
Barnabas,  31,  41,  50 
Bishop,  71 
Bruce,  5 

Captivity  Epistles,  77,  132 
Chris  tology,  132 
Chronology,  180 
Church,  69 
Clement,  171 
Colossians,  70 
Controversy,  172 
Conversion,  24 
Corinthians  I..  63,  64 
//.,  63,  65 
Cosmolog}',  8 
Council  at  Jerusalem,  50 
Cross,  103 
Curse,  137 
Deacon,  71 
Death,  97,  118,  153 
Demons,  13 
Dualism,  93 
Elder,  71 
Election,  127 
Ephesians,  70,  168 
Epicureans,  56 
Essenes,  7 
Faith,  147 
Resh,  14,  92,  136 


Freedom,  7,  155 
Galatians,  46,  50 
Gamahel,  i,  3 
Grace,  129 
Greek  cultiu-e,  2 
Haggada,  17 
Halacha,  16 

Hamack,  58,  179,  180,  181 
Hebreiz's,  58 
Hope,  151 
Hort,  58 
Idolatry,  99 
James,  32,  44,  51 
Jerome,  i 
Josephus,  7 
Judaisers,  8,  50,  112 
Judgment,  121 
Justification,  107 
Law,  19,  III 
Lewin,  180 
Lightfoot,  181 
Lord's  Supper,  86 
Love  (of  God),  123 
„    (of  Man),  153 
Mark,  48,  53 
Marriage,  156 
Meats,  163 

Messiah,  5,  10,  19,  23 
Monotheism,  131 
Pastoral  Epistles,  71,  80, 

169,  180 
Peter,  32,  40,  44.  51 
Pharisees,  4,  7,  9,  11.  21 
Philemon,  159,  168 
Philip,  40 
Philippians,  168 
Prayer,  150 
Pre-existence,  20,  134 
PrisciUa,  58 

Progress  (Theology),  89 
Promise,  19 
Property,  162 
Propitiation,  104 


Providence,  7 
Psychology,   14 
Ramsay,  54, 168, 179, 180, 

181  _ 
Reconciliation,  106 
Redemption,  106 
Resurrection,  10, 118,  130, 

152 
Righteousness    (of   God), 

7,  100 
Roman  Citizenship,  2,  55, 

160,  166 
Romans,  46,  66 
Sacraments,  81 
Sadducees,  7,  9,  11 
Salvation,  90, 100,  123. 145 
Sanctification,  loS 
Sanhedrin,  6 
Satan,  11 
Sergius  Paulus,  3 
Sin,  91,  136 
Slavery,  158 
Soteriology,  136 
Sources,  179 
Spirit,  no,  139 
Stake  (in  Flesh),  37 
State,  161 
Stephen,  5,  40 
Stoics,  56 
Suetonius,  58 
Tarsus,  2 
Thessaloniansl.,  55,  58 

//.,  59 
Timothy,  53,  64,  70 
Timothy  /.,  170 

„     '  //•,  170 
Titus,  65 
Titus,  170 
Turner,  181 
Typology,  18 
Weinel,  8,  9,  26 
Woman,  157 
Wrath  (of  God).  91 


Printed  by  Ballantvnk,  Hanson  ct"  Co. 
Edinburgh  d^  London 


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